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

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled amid the weapons, developing a renewed ecosystem denser than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Truly astonishing how much life we observe in areas that are considered dangerous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists reported in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are meant to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were disposed of off the German shoreline. Numerous of individuals loaded them in boats; some were placed in specific locations, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the first time researchers have recorded how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are typically scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately recorded, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the reality that documents are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and security risk, as well as threat from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries embark on clearing these artifacts, experts aim to protect the marine communities that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being cleared.

We should replace these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain more secure, some safe materials, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing material after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.