World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless munitions have accumulated over the years. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of ocean life had established habitats amid the munitions, forming a revitalized habitat denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we find in places that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every square metre of the weapons, researchers wrote in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer replacements, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated locations, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the first time experts have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are typically littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately mapped, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that archives are hidden in old files. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these remains, experts aim to protect the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with certain less dangerous, various safe materials, like maybe artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.