World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats among the weapons, creating a renewed ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the resilience of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and risky, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, experts documented in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that items that are intended to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This research reveals that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Countless of people loaded them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, others just dumped en route. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. As a result a lot of species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are usually strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently documented, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the fact that records are hidden in historical records. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as risk from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start extracting these relics, scientists aim to safeguard the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being extracted.

We should replace these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with some more secure, some harmless objects, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most harmful armaments can become framework for new life.