Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a decaying blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had settled amid the weapons, creating a renewed marine community denser than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of marine life. Truly remarkable how much life we observe in places that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he says.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, experts documented in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create substitutes, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be similarly positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the German coast. Countless of individuals placed them in barges; some were placed in designated locations, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the first time experts have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are usually strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are poorly mapped, partially because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the reality that documents are buried in old files. They present an detonation and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states begin clearing these remains, experts hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being extracted.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with some more secure, various non-dangerous structures, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most destructive armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.