World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands explosives have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he recalls.

Numerous of sea creatures had established habitats among the weapons, developing a revitalized marine community more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every square metre of the weapons, scientists wrote in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are meant to destroy all life are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide replacements, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals transported them in boats; some were placed in designated sites, others just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance experts have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are usually strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partly because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the reality that documents are stored in historical records. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries embark on extracting these artifacts, experts aim to protect the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being removed.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, various non-dangerous materials, like perhaps concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what happens in Lübeck creates a example for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most destructive armaments can become framework for new life.