World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled among the explosives, forming a renewed ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

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

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every square metre of the weapons, experts wrote in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are intended to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This investigation shows that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German shoreline. Numerous of individuals transported them in vessels; a portion were placed in designated areas, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of marine species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are typically strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these explosives are poorly documented, in part because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the reality that documents are hidden in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries start removing these relics, scientists aim to safeguard the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures left from munitions with some more secure, some safe objects, like possibly concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most destructive explosives can become framework for new life.