World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless munitions have accumulated over the decades. They form a rusting layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

We initially expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes on the weapons, forming a regenerated habitat denser than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we observe in areas that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the explosives, experts documented in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are intended to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer replacements, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in barges; some were placed in designated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Examples 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 environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are typically littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partially because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the fact that records are buried in old files. They pose an explosion and safety hazard, as well as danger from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these artifacts, scientists plan to safeguard the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, some harmless objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for replacing habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.