World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have accumulated over the years. They form a rusting layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. It was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had made their homes among the weapons, creating a renewed ecosystem more populous than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we find in areas that are considered dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every square metre of the explosives, experts reported in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are designed to kill all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of people loaded them in barges; some were deposited in allocated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have become coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are typically uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are often containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partially because of national borders, secret armed forces records and the situation that records are buried in old files. They pose an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states embark on clearing these remains, experts aim to protect the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures originating from weapons with some more secure, some safe structures, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because also the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.