Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the German coast rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats on the weapons, creating a regenerated marine community denser than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of life. It is actually surprising how much life we discover in areas that are supposed to be toxic and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, scientists wrote in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, replacing some of the removed habitat. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of people placed them in vessels; some were deposited in designated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. Consequently a lot of marine species that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually containing weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the reality that documents are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these remains, scientists hope to protect the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed.

We should replace these steel remains originating from munitions with certain safer, various safe structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing material after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for new life.