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

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes on the weapons, creating a regenerated ecosystem richer than the seabed nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of life. Indeed surprising how much life we discover in places that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists reported in their research on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are meant to eliminate all life are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This research demonstrates that weapons could be similarly positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were disposed of off the German coast. Numerous of workers loaded them in barges; some were deposited in designated areas, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically act as protected areas – 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 typically rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever warfare has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are often littered with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately mapped, partly because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the fact that documents are stored in old files. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states embark on extracting these remains, scientists plan to protect the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being extracted.

We should replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what happens in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most harmful armaments can become foundation for new life.