World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless explosives have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a decaying blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

We initially thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled among the munitions, forming a renewed ecosystem more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he states.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers wrote in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are intended to destroy everything are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most risky locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, restoring some of the removed habitat. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of people loaded them in barges; some were dropped in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are usually rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are usually containing explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately recorded, partly because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the situation that records are buried in old files. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these relics, researchers plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being removed.

We should replace these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, various safe materials, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting material after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most harmful weaponry can become framework for marine organisms.