World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands munitions have become matted together over the years. They form a rusting layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes amid the explosives, developing a renewed habitat more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in places that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every square metre of the weapons, experts wrote in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are meant to kill all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This study demonstrates that munitions could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the Germany's coast. Thousands of workers placed them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated sites, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are usually scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Factors

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are often strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partially because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the reality that records are stored in old files. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries begin extracting these remains, researchers aim to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain more secure, some non-dangerous structures, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a example for replacing structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because including the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.