World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a decaying blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats on the munitions, developing a renewed habitat more populous than the seabed around it.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of marine life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in areas that are considered toxic and harmful, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much life, 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.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals placed them in vessels; a portion were deposited in allocated locations, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are inadequately recorded, in part because of national borders, restricted military information and the fact that documents are stored in old files. They pose an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries start clearing these remains, scientists hope to preserve the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses originating from munitions with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.