Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They form a corroding blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recalls his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of marine animals had established habitats among the weapons, forming a regenerated habitat richer than the ocean bottom around it.

This marine city was proof to the tenacity of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he states.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, researchers wrote in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to destroy all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study reveals that weapons could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals loaded them in barges; some were placed in specific areas, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are usually littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are poorly mapped, partially because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the situation that documents are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations embark on removing these remains, scientists plan to protect the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains left from munitions with some less dangerous, various safe materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting material after munitions removal elsewhere – because including the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.