World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have become matted together over the years. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of sea creatures had settled on the explosives, forming a renewed marine community denser than the seabed around it.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are intended to destroy everything are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This research shows that munitions could be equally positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the Germany's coast. Numerous of workers loaded them in vessels; a portion were deposited in allocated locations, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are poorly recorded, in part because of international boundaries, secret military information and the situation that documents are stored in historical records. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states embark on extracting these artifacts, scientists plan to safeguard the habitats that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being cleared.

We should replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain more secure, various non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because even the most damaging explosives can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.