Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a corroding layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

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

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first relayed pictures. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of ocean life had settled among the weapons, developing a revitalized ecosystem richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in places that are supposed to be toxic and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers wrote in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to eliminate everything are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, restoring some of the lost habitat. This research reveals that explosives could be equally beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of people placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The positions of these explosives are inadequately recorded, in part because of national borders, restricted defense data and the situation that documents are hidden in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states start extracting these remains, experts hope to protect the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, some harmless structures, like maybe artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for replacing habitats after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for new life.