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

In the brackish sea off the German coast rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the World War II and neglected, numerous munitions have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, 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 contaminated, states the lead researcher.

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

Thousands of sea creatures had settled amid the weapons, creating a regenerated habitat denser than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in locations that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to destroy everything are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can provide alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of workers transported them in barges; some were placed in specific locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Factors

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partly because of international boundaries, secret military information and the reality that records are hidden in historical records. They create an explosion and security danger, as well as risk from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries embark on extracting these relics, researchers aim to protect the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous materials, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most destructive weaponry can become framework for new life.