World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a corroding layer on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

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

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had settled on the munitions, creating a regenerated marine community denser than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in areas that are considered toxic and dangerous, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists wrote in their research on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to eliminate all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can provide replacements, compensating for some of the removed marine environment. This research demonstrates that explosives could be comparably positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people placed them in boats; a portion were deposited in allocated locations, others just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Factors

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are often containing explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, classified defense data and the situation that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these relics, experts hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous objects, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most harmful explosives can become foundation for new life.