World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have accumulated over the years. They create a decaying carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats on the explosives, creating a regenerated habitat denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists documented in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer substitutes, replacing some of the removed habitat. This research demonstrates that weapons could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Countless of workers transported them in vessels; some were deposited in allocated locations, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The positions of these munitions are poorly recorded, partly because of international boundaries, classified military information and the reality that archives are hidden in old files. They present an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states embark on extracting these artifacts, researchers hope to preserve the ecosystems that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, some safe structures, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting material after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most damaging armaments can become framework for new life.