Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and neglected, countless weapons have become matted together over the years. They create a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats on the explosives, creating a renewed habitat richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much life we discover in places that are considered dangerous and risky, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are intended to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals loaded them in boats; some were placed in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance experts have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically littered with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are inadequately documented, partly because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the situation that documents are buried in historic archives. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as threat from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries begin removing these artifacts, experts plan to safeguard the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains originating from munitions with certain more secure, some non-dangerous structures, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting habitats after munitions removal in other locations – because even the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.