World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous munitions have become matted together over the years. They form a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the weapons, developing a renewed habitat more populous than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we find in places that are expected to be toxic and dangerous, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists wrote in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are intended to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky areas.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation reveals that explosives could be equally advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; some were deposited in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time researchers have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially function as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, states Vedenin. As a result a lot of organisms that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically littered with weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are poorly recorded, partially because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states embark on removing these relics, researchers aim to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with certain safer, some harmless materials, like possibly concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in different areas – because also the most harmful armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.