World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands weapons have become matted together over the years. They comprise a corroding layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes among the munitions, creating a revitalized marine community richer than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in places that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he says.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This research demonstrates that explosives could be equally beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people loaded them in boats; a portion were dropped in designated sites, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have become marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are often containing explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the situation that documents are buried in historical records. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states embark on extracting these remains, experts hope to preserve the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains left from weapons with some safer, various safe structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.