World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, thousands explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They form a rusting layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

We initially expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had settled on the weapons, forming a renewed habitat more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists reported in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are meant to destroy all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can provide replacements, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This research shows that explosives could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of workers transported them in vessels; a portion were dropped in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are typically rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever warfare has taken place in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are poorly recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, secret defense data and the reality that records are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states begin clearing these relics, researchers plan to protect the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being cleared.

We should replace these iron structures originating from weapons with certain more secure, various non-dangerous materials, like possibly concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing material after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most damaging explosives can become foundation for new life.