Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands munitions have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had settled on the munitions, developing a revitalized marine community denser than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in places that are considered dangerous and harmful, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every square metre of the explosives, researchers documented in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to destroy all life are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Countless of workers loaded them in boats; a portion were deposited in specific areas, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance experts have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are often strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are poorly recorded, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the fact that records are hidden in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety hazard, as well as threat from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries start removing these artifacts, experts plan to preserve the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are already being cleared.

We should replace these steel remains left from munitions with some less dangerous, various safe objects, like perhaps man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after explosive extraction in different areas – because including the most destructive weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.