World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless weapons have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had settled amid the weapons, creating a revitalized habitat denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually surprising how much life we observe in places that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are designed to kill all life are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of people loaded them in barges; some were deposited in designated areas, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are usually uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically littered with munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently documented, in part because of national borders, restricted defense data and the situation that documents are buried in historical records. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states start clearing these relics, researchers plan to preserve the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains left from munitions with certain more secure, various safe objects, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.