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

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Some of us thought to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of sea creatures had settled amid the explosives, developing a renewed habitat richer than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are considered toxic and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers wrote in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to eliminate all life are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that explosives could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are usually containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partly because of international boundaries, classified military information and the situation that records are hidden in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries start extracting these remains, experts aim to protect the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

We should replace these iron structures remaining from weapons with certain safer, some safe structures, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because even the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.