World War II Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the World War II and neglected, thousands explosives have become matted together over the years. They form a corroding layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor 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 tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had settled among the munitions, developing a regenerated habitat more populous than the ocean bottom around it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, scientists reported in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that munitions could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of workers transported them in barges; a portion were dropped in designated locations, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of marine species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Factors

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are usually strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are poorly mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the fact that documents are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations begin extracting these artifacts, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being cleared.

We should replace these steel remains left from weapons with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous materials, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for replacing material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because also the most damaging explosives can become framework for marine organisms.