Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us anticipated to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

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

Thousands of sea creatures had settled on the munitions, forming a revitalized habitat denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, researchers reported in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are meant to destroy all life are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, restoring some of the lost habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were dumped off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals transported them in barges; some were dropped in designated locations, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have become coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The locations of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, partially because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the fact that documents are hidden in historical records. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states begin removing these relics, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with some safer, some non-dangerous structures, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most damaging explosives can become scaffolding for new life.