Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

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

Countless of marine animals had made their homes amid the munitions, developing a renewed marine community denser than the ocean bottom around it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we find in locations that are considered dangerous and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This investigation shows that munitions could be equally 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, 1.6 million tons of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Numerous of people loaded them in vessels; some were deposited in allocated locations, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically function as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are typically rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The locations of these munitions are poorly recorded, in part because of international boundaries, classified defense data and the fact that archives are buried in historic archives. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the persistent emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states start extracting these artifacts, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

We should substitute these iron structures left from weapons with certain safer, various safe structures, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most harmful weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.