World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recalls his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats amid the munitions, creating a renewed habitat richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are considered dangerous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers reported in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to destroy everything are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were disposed of off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in boats; some were deposited in specific areas, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Wherever warfare has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually containing munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are poorly documented, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the situation that documents are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states start removing these remains, experts aim to safeguard the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures remaining from munitions with some safer, some harmless materials, like possibly man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing material after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most damaging armaments can become foundation for new life.