Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous weapons have accumulated over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

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

Countless of marine animals had settled among the munitions, creating a revitalized marine community richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we find in locations that are considered toxic and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers reported in their research on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to kill all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation shows that weapons could be equally beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of people loaded them in boats; a portion were dropped in specific locations, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are typically containing explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these explosives are poorly documented, partially because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the fact that records are buried in historic archives. They create an detonation and security risk, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations embark on extracting these relics, experts hope to protect the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being extracted.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with some more secure, some harmless objects, like maybe artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.