World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the weapons, creating a regenerated habitat more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in places that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are meant to destroy all life are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most risky areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This study shows that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers placed them in vessels; a portion were dropped in specific sites, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are typically littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are poorly mapped, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the reality that records are buried in historical records. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these artifacts, scientists hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, various non-dangerous objects, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most damaging explosives can become framework for new life.