World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes amid the munitions, creating a regenerated marine community more populous than the sea floor surrounding it.

This marine city was proof to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much life we find in areas that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their study on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are intended to eliminate everything are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research demonstrates that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were dumped off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks 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 reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Wherever warfare has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are usually containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the reality that documents are hidden in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start clearing these relics, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains originating from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous objects, like possibly concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a model for substituting structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.