Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had settled amid the munitions, creating a revitalized habitat richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in places that are considered toxic and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists reported in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are meant to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that explosives could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of workers transported them in boats; some were deposited in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are often containing explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the reality that records are buried in old files. They pose an detonation and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries start clearing these artifacts, scientists hope to preserve the ecosystems that have established in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain safer, various harmless objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for new life.