Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a rusting layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes among the munitions, developing a revitalized marine community more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much life we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the munitions, researchers wrote in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to eliminate everything are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can provide substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This research shows that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of people loaded them in vessels; a portion were dropped in designated areas, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. As a result a lot of marine species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere warfare has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are often littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the fact that records are hidden in historical records. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as danger from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these relics, experts hope to preserve the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses originating from weapons with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because even the most harmful explosives can become foundation for new life.