World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands explosives have accumulated over the years. They comprise a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us anticipated to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Countless of marine animals had made their homes amid the munitions, forming a renewed habitat more populous than the ocean bottom around it.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of life. Truly astonishing how much life we discover in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study reveals that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals placed them in barges; some were deposited in designated sites, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, in part because of national borders, classified defense data and the fact that documents are buried in historical records. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these relics, scientists hope to safeguard the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains remaining from munitions with some more secure, some non-dangerous materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for new life.