Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats amid the explosives, developing a revitalized marine community denser than the seabed around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the resilience of life. It is actually astonishing how much life we observe in areas that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers wrote in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are intended to eliminate all life are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most risky areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of workers placed them in barges; a portion were placed in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are poorly recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that records are hidden in historical records. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations start extracting these relics, researchers plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being extracted.

We should replace these steel remains originating from munitions with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for replacing structures after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for new life.