World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had settled on the explosives, forming a regenerated habitat richer than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much life we find in areas that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers wrote in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are designed to kill all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in barges; a portion were placed in specific locations, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a lot of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Wherever warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically containing explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, classified defense data and the fact that archives are buried in historical records. They pose an detonation and security danger, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations start extracting these relics, experts hope to protect the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are already being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses left from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless structures, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing habitats after munitions removal elsewhere – because including the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.