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

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

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

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

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

Numerous of ocean life had settled on the munitions, forming a revitalized habitat richer than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the resilience of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we find in locations that are expected to be toxic and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every meter squared of the weapons, experts reported in their paper on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to destroy everything are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that explosives could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of people placed them in vessels; some were deposited in allocated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, surrounding seas are often containing explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately documented, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the situation that documents are hidden in old files. They present an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries embark on extracting these artifacts, scientists plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain less dangerous, various harmless materials, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck creates a model for substituting habitats after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most harmful explosives can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.