World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German coast rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous munitions have become matted together over the decades. They form a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had settled on the explosives, developing a regenerated marine community denser than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much life we discover in locations that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every square metre of the weapons, researchers reported in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can provide substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation shows that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals loaded them in vessels; some were deposited in designated areas, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have become marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively function as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually littered with munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partly because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the fact that documents are hidden in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the persistent emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these remains, scientists plan to protect the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains originating from munitions with certain safer, some safe objects, like maybe artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most destructive armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.