World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous weapons have accumulated over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had settled on the weapons, creating a renewed marine community denser than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in places that are supposed to be dangerous and dangerous, he says.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers documented in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to kill everything are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were disposed of off the German coast. Numerous of people transported them in barges; a portion were dropped in designated sites, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the first time experts have recorded how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, partially because of national borders, classified military information and the fact that archives are hidden in historical records. They pose an detonation and security hazard, as well as risk from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these relics, experts plan to preserve the habitats that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with some safer, some non-dangerous materials, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most damaging armaments can become framework for marine organisms.