Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Researchers expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had settled among the explosives, developing a regenerated marine community richer than the seabed around it.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every meter squared of the weapons, experts reported in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that explosives could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Numerous of workers transported them in vessels; a portion were dropped in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of marine species that are usually uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are typically containing munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partially because of international boundaries, classified defense data and the fact that archives are buried in old files. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations embark on extracting these remains, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with some safer, some safe materials, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because also the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.