Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German coast rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, thousands munitions have become matted together over the years. They create a decaying layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had made their homes among the weapons, developing a regenerated habitat more populous than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we discover in locations that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every square metre of the munitions, experts documented in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are intended to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most risky places.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the Germany's coast. Numerous of people loaded them in boats; a portion were dropped in designated areas, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically act as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are poorly documented, partly because of international boundaries, classified military information and the reality that records are stored in old files. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries embark on removing these remains, experts plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses left from weapons with certain safer, various harmless structures, like maybe artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck sets a example for replacing material after explosive extraction in different areas – because even the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.