World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless munitions have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a great moment, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes amid the explosives, forming a renewed marine community denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was testament to the persistence of life. Indeed astonishing how much life we find in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were residing on every square metre of the weapons, researchers wrote in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to destroy all life are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most risky places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the German shoreline. Countless of workers loaded them in barges; some were placed in specific sites, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are usually scarce or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever warfare has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material remain in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start clearing these relics, scientists aim to protect the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains left from munitions with some safer, some non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.