Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. That moment was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats amid the explosives, creating a renewed ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom around it.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in areas that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral 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 organisms were residing on every square metre of the explosives, researchers wrote in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer replacements, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of workers transported them in vessels; some were placed in specific sites, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are often littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately recorded, in part because of international boundaries, restricted military information and the reality that records are hidden in historical records. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on removing these relics, researchers plan to safeguard the habitats that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains left from weapons with some safer, various non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.