World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have accumulated over the years. They create a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes on the weapons, creating a revitalized marine community more populous than the seabed nearby.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed piece of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, experts reported in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are meant to destroy everything are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This research reveals that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals loaded them in boats; a portion were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, secret military information and the fact that documents are hidden in historical records. They pose an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries start removing these artifacts, experts aim to protect the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

We should replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful armaments can become framework for marine organisms.