Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a decaying layer on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

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

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had settled among the weapons, creating a renewed marine community denser than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in places that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists wrote in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are intended to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be equally advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals loaded them in vessels; some were placed in designated areas, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time scientists have recorded how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically function as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are typically uncommon or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the recent history, nearby oceans are typically containing explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are poorly recorded, in part because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the situation that records are hidden in historic archives. They pose an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations embark on extracting these relics, researchers hope to preserve the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains left from weapons with certain less dangerous, various harmless objects, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because also the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.