Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

We initially expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats on the munitions, forming a revitalized ecosystem more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much life we find in places that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the weapons, experts documented in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are meant to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This study reveals that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more important for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are insufficiently documented, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that documents are hidden in historic archives. They present an explosion and security hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations begin extracting these remains, scientists aim to preserve the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures remaining from weapons with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a model for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most destructive armaments can become foundation for new life.