World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, countless weapons have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Some of us anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of ocean life had established habitats amid the munitions, developing a renewed habitat richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Truly surprising how much life we observe in places that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers documented in their study on the finding. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are designed to kill everything are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research demonstrates that explosives could be comparably positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of individuals transported them in vessels; some were placed in specific locations, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are otherwise scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are often strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are poorly recorded, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the situation that documents are stored in historical records. They pose an explosion and security danger, as well as danger from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these artifacts, researchers hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains originating from munitions with some safer, various safe materials, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck creates a example for replacing habitats after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.