Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, numerous weapons have become matted together over the years. They comprise a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had established habitats on the explosives, forming a regenerated marine community richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of life. It is actually remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their study on the discovery. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Numerous of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific locations, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically act as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are often containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partly because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the situation that records are stored in historical records. They create an detonation and security danger, as well as threat from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states start extracting these relics, scientists plan to preserve the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures originating from munitions with certain safer, various harmless materials, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what transpires in Lübeck sets a model for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most damaging armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.