Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless weapons have become matted together over the years. They comprise a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats on the explosives, creating a revitalized ecosystem denser than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are considered toxic and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, experts reported in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to destroy everything are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the lost habitat. This investigation shows that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German shoreline. Numerous of workers placed them in vessels; some were deposited in specific locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the reality that records are buried in old files. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries begin clearing these relics, experts plan to protect the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

We should replace these iron structures left from weapons with certain less dangerous, various harmless objects, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because even the most harmful weaponry can become framework for new life.