🔗 Share this article World War II Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless explosives have accumulated over the decades. They form a decaying layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic. Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions decayed. Researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says a scientist. When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin. What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he notes. Countless of sea creatures had established habitats among the explosives, developing a regenerated ecosystem more populous than the sea floor around it. This marine city was proof to the persistence of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we find in locations that are expected to be toxic and risky, he explains. Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin. Remarkable Population Density An mean of more than 40,000 animals were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists wrote in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared. It is surprising that objects that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous places. Man-made Features as Marine Environments Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study shows that munitions could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas. Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Numerous of workers placed them in barges; some were deposited in allocated sites, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has responded. Global Examples of Ocean Transformation In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam These locations become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing. Coming Factors Wherever warfare has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas. The positions of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that archives are hidden in historical records. They create an detonation and security hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds. As Germany and different states embark on removing these relics, researchers aim to safeguard the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed. We should substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe artificial reefs, states Vedenin. He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most harmful armaments can become framework for new life.
In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless explosives have accumulated over the decades. They form a decaying layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic. Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions decayed. Researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says a scientist. When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin. What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a remarkable experience, he notes. Countless of sea creatures had established habitats among the explosives, developing a regenerated ecosystem more populous than the sea floor around it. This marine city was proof to the persistence of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we find in locations that are expected to be toxic and risky, he explains. Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin. Remarkable Population Density An mean of more than 40,000 animals were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists wrote in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared. It is surprising that objects that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous places. Man-made Features as Marine Environments Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study shows that munitions could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas. Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Numerous of workers placed them in barges; some were deposited in allocated sites, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has responded. Global Examples of Ocean Transformation In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam These locations become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing. Coming Factors Wherever warfare has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas. The positions of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that archives are hidden in historical records. They create an detonation and security hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds. As Germany and different states embark on removing these relics, researchers aim to safeguard the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed. We should substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe artificial reefs, states Vedenin. He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most harmful armaments can become framework for new life.