World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and neglected, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of marine animals had settled amid the munitions, forming a revitalized habitat denser than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in places that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are intended to destroy everything are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German coast. Countless of workers loaded them in boats; a portion were dropped in designated locations, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are often littered with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are poorly mapped, in part because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the fact that archives are hidden in old files. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries start extracting these remains, scientists hope to safeguard the habitats that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some more secure, various safe structures, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for replacing structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most destructive armaments can become foundation for new life.