World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous munitions have become matted together over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went searching 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 contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled among the weapons, forming a revitalized habitat more populous than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much life we discover in areas that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he says.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists reported in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation shows that weapons could be equally beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of workers transported them in boats; some were dropped in specific sites, others just dumped en route. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are usually scarce or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are often littered with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the reality that documents are hidden in historical records. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as risk from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states begin extracting these remains, scientists hope to protect the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being cleared.

We should replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous objects, like perhaps concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because even the most damaging armaments can become foundation for new life.