Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and neglected, thousands explosives have become matted together over the years. They form a rusting layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats on the weapons, creating a renewed marine community richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of life. It is actually remarkable how much life we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This study reveals that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in vessels; some were dropped in specific sites, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of organisms that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever military conflict has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material rest in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the reality that archives are buried in old files. They create an detonation and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations begin extracting these remains, researchers plan to preserve the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from munitions with certain safer, various harmless objects, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after explosive extraction in different areas – because even the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.