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

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, numerous munitions have accumulated over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

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

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes among the weapons, developing a revitalized marine community more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in places that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists wrote in their paper on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are designed to kill everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in barges; some were deposited in allocated areas, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of organisms that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically containing explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, partially because of national borders, restricted defense data and the situation that archives are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and security danger, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states embark on removing these artifacts, scientists aim to preserve the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures left from munitions with some more secure, some safe materials, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful explosives can become framework for new life.