World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless explosives have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes amid the weapons, developing a regenerated marine community richer than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of life. It is actually astonishing how much life we find in places that are considered dangerous and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers wrote in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are meant to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most risky places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were disposed of off the German shoreline. Numerous of people transported them in boats; a portion were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the initial instance experts have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a lot of marine species that are usually rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, partly because of national borders, secret armed forces records and the reality that records are buried in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries start clearing these remains, researchers plan to preserve the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses left from munitions with certain safer, various non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.