World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They create a decaying blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled among the weapons, developing a renewed ecosystem more populous than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we find in places that are considered toxic and risky, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers wrote in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can provide alternatives, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were dumped off the Germany's coast. Numerous of workers transported them in vessels; some were dropped in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of international boundaries, secret military information and the situation that archives are buried in old files. They pose an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these artifacts, experts aim to protect the marine communities that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

We should substitute these iron structures originating from weapons with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in Lübeck sets a example for replacing material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.