Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous munitions have become matted together over the decades. They form a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes on the weapons, developing a regenerated ecosystem richer than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was evidence to the resilience of marine life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, experts wrote in their study on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are meant to kill all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most risky places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create replacements, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research demonstrates that munitions could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the German coast. Numerous of people placed them in vessels; some were deposited in designated sites, others just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Factors

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are typically strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately mapped, partly because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the reality that documents are hidden in historical records. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries embark on removing these relics, scientists hope to safeguard the marine communities that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, various non-dangerous objects, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most harmful weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.