World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They form a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats amid the weapons, creating a regenerated ecosystem denser than the seabed around it.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were living on metal shells, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers documented in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to kill everything are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky areas.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide replacements, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that explosives could be similarly positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Numerous of individuals placed them in boats; some were dropped in allocated sites, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of marine species that are typically scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere warfare has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are often strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these explosives are poorly recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that archives are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety hazard, as well as risk from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states begin extracting these remains, experts aim to safeguard the habitats that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being extracted.

We should substitute these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some safer, some safe structures, like possibly concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what happens in Lübeck sets a model for substituting material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.