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

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands explosives have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first transmitted footage. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of sea creatures had made their homes amid the munitions, developing a regenerated habitat more populous than the sea floor surrounding it.

This marine city was testament to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we discover in places that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was there, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the explosives, researchers documented in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most risky places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide replacements, restoring some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of people placed them in vessels; some were placed in specific locations, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time scientists have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of species that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Wherever warfare has taken place in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The positions of these munitions are inadequately recorded, partly because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that documents are buried in historical records. They present an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these relics, scientists aim to protect the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most harmful armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.