World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats amid the explosives, developing a regenerated marine community richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we discover in locations that are considered hazardous and risky, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed piece of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This research shows that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are often containing munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, partially because of international boundaries, classified defense data and the situation that documents are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries embark on removing these artifacts, researchers plan to protect the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some more secure, some safe materials, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what happens in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing material after munitions removal in different areas – because also the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.