World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the end of the second world war and neglected, countless munitions have accumulated over the decades. They form a rusting layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

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

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of sea creatures had settled amid the munitions, developing a revitalized marine community more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of marine life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, experts reported in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to destroy all life are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that explosives could be equally positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German coast. Numerous of workers placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially act as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are usually scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are typically strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the situation that documents are stored in historical records. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as risk from the continuous release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries start removing these artifacts, researchers plan to protect the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being extracted.

We should replace these metal carcasses left from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless objects, like possibly artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in Lübeck establishes a model for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most harmful armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.