Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats amid the munitions, developing a revitalized ecosystem richer than the seabed around it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much life we find in locations that are considered dangerous and dangerous, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are intended to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This research shows that explosives could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were disposed of off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals transported them in vessels; some were dropped in designated sites, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have become coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a lot of marine species that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually littered with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, partly because of national borders, secret defense data and the fact that records are stored in old files. They create an explosion and security danger, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and different states start clearing these artifacts, researchers aim to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, various non-dangerous structures, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for replacing material after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most harmful explosives can become framework for new life.