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

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats among the explosives, developing a regenerated habitat more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, experts reported in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are designed to destroy everything are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer substitutes, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This research demonstrates that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people loaded them in boats; some were deposited in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

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

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are often strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the fact that records are hidden in historic archives. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start removing these remains, scientists hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being cleared.

We should replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some more secure, various safe materials, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most harmful armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.