Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled on the weapons, developing a revitalized marine community denser than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to destroy everything are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This study reveals that munitions could be comparably positive – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in vessels; some were placed in designated areas, others just dumped en route. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are typically scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically containing explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are inadequately recorded, partly because of national borders, restricted defense data and the fact that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries start removing these artifacts, scientists aim to preserve the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous structures, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.