World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, countless weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of ocean life had settled amid the explosives, creating a regenerated marine community denser than the seabed around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we find in places that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every square metre of the weapons, researchers wrote in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are meant to destroy all life are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer replacements, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research demonstrates that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of workers transported them in vessels; a portion were placed in specific areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have become reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are usually scarce 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 explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are poorly recorded, partially because of international boundaries, classified military information and the situation that records are hidden in old files. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states start removing these relics, experts aim to preserve the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being removed.

We should substitute these steel remains left from weapons with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous structures, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after munitions removal in other locations – because including the most destructive explosives can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.