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

In the brackish sea off the German coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a corroding layer on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

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

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he says.

Countless of ocean life had settled amid the weapons, creating a renewed marine community denser than the seabed around it.

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

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists wrote in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are designed to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be equally beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of workers loaded them in boats; a portion were placed in designated areas, others just dumped during transport. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, classified military information and the reality that records are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and security danger, as well as danger from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries begin extracting these artifacts, experts aim to preserve the habitats that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains left from weapons with certain safer, some harmless objects, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing material after munitions removal in other locations – because including the most damaging explosives can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.