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

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a rusting layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

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

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes amid the explosives, creating a regenerated ecosystem denser than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was proof to the resilience of marine life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the weapons, researchers documented in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Thousands of people placed them in barges; some were deposited in designated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a lot of organisms that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are often littered with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are inadequately documented, partially because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the situation that documents are stored in old files. They create an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states begin clearing these artifacts, experts aim to preserve the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures originating from munitions with certain safer, some non-dangerous structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in Lübeck creates a example for replacing structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.