World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a decaying layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats on the explosives, forming a revitalized marine community more populous than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in places that are considered dangerous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists reported in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, replacing some of the removed habitat. This research shows that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of life 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 munitions were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of people placed them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated locations, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for wildlife 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 marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Wherever military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, partially because of sovereign limits, classified defense data and the fact that records are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations begin removing these artifacts, researchers hope to protect the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being extracted.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with some safer, various non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing material after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.