World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Weapons
In the slightly salty waters 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 second world war and neglected, countless weapons have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.
Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.
Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.
When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.
What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he recalls.
Numerous of marine animals had established habitats amid the explosives, developing a revitalized marine community richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.
This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we discover in places that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he states.
Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.
Surprising Creature Concentration
An average of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, experts reported in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.
It is ironic that things that are designed to destroy everything are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most risky areas.
Artificial Structures as Marine Environments
Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This research reveals that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated in different areas.
Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated locations, others just dumped en route. This is the first time researchers have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.
Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation
- In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
- Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
- Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island
These places become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially act as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.
Coming Factors
Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are typically containing munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.
The sites of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, classified armed forces records and the reality that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.
As the German government and different states embark on extracting these relics, scientists aim to protect the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being cleared.
We should replace these steel remains left from munitions with some safer, some non-dangerous objects, like perhaps man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.
He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for substituting habitats after munitions removal in other locations – because even the most destructive explosives can become foundation for marine organisms.