World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous munitions have accumulated over the years. They comprise a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats amid the explosives, forming a renewed ecosystem richer than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are considered dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, experts documented in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to kill all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This research demonstrates that explosives could be equally beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of people loaded them in boats; a portion were deposited in designated areas, others just dumped during transport. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have transformed into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, adjacent waters are often containing explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The positions of these explosives are poorly documented, partly because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the reality that archives are stored in old files. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries start clearing these relics, scientists plan to protect the ecosystems that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures originating from munitions with some safer, some harmless structures, like maybe concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what happens in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after munitions removal in other locations – because even the most harmful armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.