World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a decaying carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats among the munitions, forming a regenerated habitat more populous than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of marine life. Truly surprising how much life we find in locations that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are intended to eliminate everything are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be similarly positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the German coast. Thousands of workers placed them in boats; some were deposited in allocated areas, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have become marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are usually littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the fact that archives are hidden in old files. They pose an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these remains, researchers aim to protect the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with some more secure, various harmless structures, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because including the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.