Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, countless explosives have become matted together over the years. They form a corroding blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Some of us expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the weapons, creating a revitalized habitat more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the resilience of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in areas that are supposed to be toxic and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are intended to destroy everything are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, replacing some of the removed habitat. This study demonstrates that explosives could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of individuals transported them in vessels; some were dropped in designated locations, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of marine species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are typically containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately documented, in part because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the reality that records are stored in old files. They pose an detonation and safety hazard, as well as risk from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations begin clearing these remains, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being removed.

We should replace these iron structures remaining from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless materials, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.