World War II Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Weapons
In the brackish waters off the German coast sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless munitions have accumulated over the years. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.
Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.
We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.
When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.
What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recounts his team members shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.
Countless of ocean life had established habitats among the munitions, creating a renewed habitat denser than the ocean bottom nearby.
This ocean community was proof to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are considered hazardous and harmful, he explains.
Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.
Unexpected Population Density
An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every meter squared of the explosives, experts documented in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.
It is ironic that objects that are intended to kill everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous places.
Artificial Features as Ocean Environments
Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study demonstrates that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.
Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German coast. Numerous of individuals transported them in vessels; some were placed in specific areas, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has reacted.
Global Instances of Marine Adaptation
- In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
- Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
- Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam
These locations become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.
Future Considerations
Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our oceans.
The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of national borders, classified defense data and the reality that documents are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety hazard, as well as risk from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.
As the German government and different states start removing these artifacts, experts hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.
We should substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain safer, some non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, says Vedenin.
He currently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.
