Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German coast rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless explosives have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a rusting layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats on the explosives, creating a regenerated habitat richer than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the resilience of life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we observe in places that are considered toxic and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, scientists wrote in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to destroy all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer replacements, restoring some of the lost habitat. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's coast. Thousands of workers transported them in boats; some were dropped in designated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are typically strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are poorly documented, partly because of sovereign limits, classified defense data and the situation that archives are buried in historic archives. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations start extracting these remains, experts plan to protect the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being extracted.

We should substitute these iron structures left from munitions with some more secure, various harmless structures, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting material after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for new life.