World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of marine animals had established habitats on the explosives, creating a renewed marine community richer than the ocean bottom around it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we discover in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists reported in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to eliminate everything are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer substitutes, replacing some of the lost habitat. This research shows that weapons could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Numerous of people transported them in vessels; some were placed in designated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Anywhere warfare has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are often littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are poorly documented, partially because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the fact that archives are buried in historical records. They present an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states start extracting these artifacts, researchers aim to safeguard the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some less dangerous, various harmless objects, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most destructive armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.