World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless explosives have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a rusting layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes amid the munitions, forming a renewed ecosystem more populous than the seabed nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much life we find in areas that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists reported in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are designed to kill all life are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that explosives could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of workers transported them in vessels; some were dropped in specific locations, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, secret defense data and the fact that archives are buried in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states begin extracting these relics, experts hope to safeguard the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being cleared.

We should replace these metal carcasses originating from weapons with some safer, various harmless materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing material after munitions removal elsewhere – because including the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.