World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats on the munitions, forming a revitalized ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. Indeed surprising how much life we find in locations that are considered dangerous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, experts reported in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are designed to kill all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can provide substitutes, replacing some of the lost habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals placed them in vessels; a portion were dropped in designated areas, others just dumped en route. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of marine species that are typically rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are inadequately documented, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the reality that archives are hidden in historical records. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries embark on removing these remains, researchers aim to safeguard the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being extracted.

We should replace these steel remains originating from weapons with certain safer, some safe structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for replacing habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for new life.