World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the German coast rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a decaying carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recalls his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had made their homes on the munitions, forming a renewed habitat richer than the seabed nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists documented in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are designed to kill everything are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation shows that weapons could be comparably positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Countless of individuals loaded them in barges; some were deposited in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are usually uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever warfare has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are typically containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partially because of national borders, classified military information and the fact that records are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states start removing these artifacts, scientists plan to safeguard the marine communities that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures originating from munitions with certain more secure, some harmless materials, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what happens in Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after weapon clearance in different areas – because even the most damaging armaments can become framework for new life.