World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a corroding blanket 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 ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of ocean life had settled on the weapons, creating a renewed habitat richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the resilience of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are considered dangerous and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists reported in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky places.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be equally positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in allocated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are typically containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are poorly recorded, in part because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the reality that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an detonation and security risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these relics, experts plan to protect the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures originating from munitions with some more secure, various non-dangerous structures, like perhaps concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.