Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands weapons have accumulated over the decades. They create a decaying layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats on the weapons, developing a renewed ecosystem richer than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were living on metal shells, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to destroy all life are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of people loaded them in barges; a portion were placed in designated areas, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Wherever military conflict has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually containing explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are poorly mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, classified military information and the fact that records are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations begin removing these remains, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures originating from munitions with certain safer, some safe materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because also the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.