World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a decaying layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

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

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled among the weapons, forming a regenerated ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of life. Indeed astonishing how much life we discover in places that are considered toxic and harmful, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers reported in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are meant to destroy everything are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This study reveals that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of people loaded them in barges; some were placed in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately documented, partially because of international boundaries, restricted military information and the fact that archives are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries start clearing these relics, researchers hope to protect the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures originating from munitions with certain less dangerous, various harmless materials, like possibly concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because even the most destructive armaments can become framework for marine organisms.