World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, countless weapons have become matted together over the years. They form a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

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

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats amid the munitions, forming a regenerated ecosystem richer than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much life we discover in areas that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers documented in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to kill all life are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create replacements, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This study reveals that explosives could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of people transported them in boats; some were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Anywhere warfare has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are often strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as danger from the persistent emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states begin removing these remains, researchers plan to preserve the ecosystems that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being extracted.

We should substitute these steel remains originating from munitions with certain safer, some non-dangerous structures, like maybe artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting habitats after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most destructive armaments can become framework for marine organisms.