World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous weapons have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

When the first scientists 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 toxic, states a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats amid the explosives, developing a renewed habitat richer than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are expected to be toxic and risky, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the explosives, researchers wrote in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This research demonstrates that explosives could be equally advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the German shoreline. Numerous of workers transported them in barges; a portion were placed in allocated locations, others just dumped during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are usually uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are often strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material rest in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are poorly recorded, partly because of national borders, secret military information and the situation that archives are stored in historical records. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these relics, researchers hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures left from munitions with certain less dangerous, some safe materials, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for replacing habitats after munitions removal in other locations – because even the most destructive armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.