World War II Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, countless munitions have accumulated over the years. They comprise a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes among the munitions, developing a regenerated marine community denser than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in places that are considered dangerous and risky, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, researchers documented in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the lost habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be equally beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers placed them in barges; some were deposited in allocated locations, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are usually uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these explosives are poorly recorded, partially because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the reality that archives are buried in old files. They present an detonation and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries start extracting these artifacts, experts hope to preserve the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains originating from munitions with certain more secure, some safe materials, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because even the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.