World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats on the munitions, forming a revitalized habitat more populous than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were living on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers wrote in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, others just dumped en route. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the last century, nearby oceans are usually containing munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, classified military information and the situation that archives are stored in old files. They create an detonation and security danger, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states embark on extracting these relics, experts plan to safeguard the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures remaining from weapons with some safer, some harmless materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what occurs in Lübeck creates a model for replacing material after weapon clearance in different areas – because even the most harmful armaments can become framework for marine organisms.