World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had settled amid the explosives, creating a revitalized ecosystem denser than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were living on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much life, explains 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 risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create substitutes, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This research reveals that explosives could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have transformed into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are usually uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are often containing explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partially because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the situation that documents are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and different states embark on removing these artifacts, scientists hope to safeguard the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.

We should replace these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain safer, some safe structures, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most damaging explosives can become framework for new life.