Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, countless weapons have accumulated over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats amid the munitions, creating a revitalized marine community richer than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Truly surprising how much life we observe in places that are supposed to be dangerous and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed piece of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to kill everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Countless of people placed them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever warfare has occurred in the recent history, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The positions of these munitions are poorly mapped, partially because of national borders, classified military information and the situation that records are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states start extracting these artifacts, researchers aim to protect the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some less dangerous, some harmless structures, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most damaging explosives can become foundation for marine organisms.