Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

We initially expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes among the explosives, developing a renewed habitat richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the resilience of marine life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he states.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, experts reported in their paper on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are intended to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of people loaded them in vessels; some were deposited in allocated areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

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

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are otherwise scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately documented, partly because of sovereign limits, classified armed forces records and the situation that archives are stored in historical records. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries start removing these artifacts, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain safer, various non-dangerous objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because even the most harmful explosives can become framework for marine organisms.