World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, countless weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had settled on the explosives, forming a revitalized habitat richer than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the resilience of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in locations that are considered toxic and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers documented in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that items that are designed to destroy everything are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create replacements, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This research demonstrates that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Numerous of individuals placed them in vessels; some were dropped in allocated areas, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, surrounding seas are often strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately mapped, in part because of national borders, restricted defense data and the situation that records are hidden in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations begin extracting these remains, experts plan to preserve the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains originating from munitions with certain safer, various harmless structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after munitions removal elsewhere – because even the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.