World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Armaments
In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and neglected, countless weapons have accumulated over the years. They comprise a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.
Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.
We initially thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.
When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.
What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.
Countless of sea creatures had made their homes amid the weapons, forming a regenerated habitat richer than the sea floor surrounding it.
This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we find in places that are considered toxic and risky, he states.
Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the old munitions. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.
Remarkable Creature Concentration
An mean of more than 40,000 animals were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists documented in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.
It is paradoxical that things that are designed to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most dangerous areas.
Artificial Structures as Marine Environments
Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that weapons could be similarly positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in other locations.
Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were discarded off the German coast. Thousands of workers placed them in boats; some were deposited in designated sites, others just dumped en route. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.
Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation
- In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
- Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
- Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam
These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.
Future Considerations
Wherever military conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our marine environments.
The locations of these munitions are insufficiently documented, in part because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the reality that archives are hidden in historical records. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.
As the German government and different states start removing these artifacts, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.
We should substitute these iron structures left from munitions with certain safer, some non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.
He presently wishes that what happens in Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because even the most damaging explosives can become framework for new life.