World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats on the explosives, creating a revitalized ecosystem denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much life we discover in places that are expected to be hazardous and harmful, he states.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, experts reported in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This research demonstrates that munitions could be comparably positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Wherever military conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are often littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are poorly documented, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the situation that records are hidden in historic archives. They present an explosion and safety hazard, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states embark on clearing these relics, researchers plan to safeguard the habitats that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most damaging armaments can become foundation for new life.