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

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had settled amid the explosives, developing a renewed ecosystem more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much life we find in areas that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that items that are intended to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This study demonstrates that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Numerous of individuals placed them in barges; some were dropped in designated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are typically scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are usually containing explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are poorly recorded, in part because of international boundaries, secret military information and the fact that records are stored in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations begin extracting these relics, experts plan to preserve the ecosystems that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain more secure, various safe structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.