Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled on the munitions, developing a revitalized habitat richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we find in areas that are expected to be toxic and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the munitions, experts wrote in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to kill all life are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, restoring some of the removed habitat. This research demonstrates that munitions could be equally positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of workers placed them in boats; a portion were deposited in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time experts have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have become marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of species that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically littered with weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are poorly recorded, partially because of national borders, secret defense data and the fact that documents are hidden in old files. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as threat from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these relics, experts plan to safeguard the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains originating from weapons with some more secure, various safe objects, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.