World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German coast sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had settled amid the munitions, creating a renewed ecosystem richer than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was there, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be comparably positive – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Countless of people loaded them in vessels; a portion were deposited in designated sites, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately documented, partially because of sovereign limits, classified military information and the reality that documents are buried in historical records. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these relics, scientists aim to protect the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

We should substitute these iron structures left from munitions with certain more secure, various safe structures, like possibly artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting material after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most harmful explosives can become framework for ocean ecosystems.