World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the second world war and left behind, countless explosives have become matted together over the years. They create a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his team members reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had established habitats among the munitions, creating a renewed habitat richer than the ocean bottom around it.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much life we find in areas that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their research on the observation. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are meant to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were discarded off the German coast. Countless of workers placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with explosives, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The positions of these munitions are inadequately recorded, partly because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the reality that archives are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these artifacts, researchers plan to protect the marine communities that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, various safe materials, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting material after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most damaging explosives can become foundation for new life.