World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

We initially expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had established habitats amid the explosives, creating a renewed habitat more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we find in locations that are considered toxic and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists documented in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This study demonstrates that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of workers transported them in barges; some were deposited in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of organisms that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually containing weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material rest in our seas.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, in part because of national borders, secret armed forces records and the situation that records are hidden in old files. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these artifacts, experts aim to preserve the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being cleared.

We should substitute these steel remains left from weapons with certain more secure, some non-dangerous structures, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.