World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled amid the explosives, creating a regenerated ecosystem denser than the seabed surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed surprising how much life we observe in areas that are considered dangerous and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 animals were residing on every square metre of the explosives, scientists wrote in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study demonstrates that weapons could be comparably beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Countless of workers placed them in boats; some were deposited in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time experts have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever warfare has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partly because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that records are hidden in old files. They create an explosion and security danger, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on removing these artifacts, scientists aim to preserve the habitats that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being extracted.

We should replace these steel remains remaining from munitions with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most destructive weaponry can become framework for marine organisms.