Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They form a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Countless of marine animals had made their homes on the munitions, forming a renewed marine community more populous than the ocean bottom around it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed surprising how much life we discover in areas that are expected to be toxic and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers reported in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are meant to kill all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, restoring some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that explosives could be equally advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people transported them in boats; a portion were placed in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are typically scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are poorly recorded, partially because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the reality that records are hidden in old files. They create an detonation and security hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these relics, scientists aim to preserve the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being extracted.

We should replace these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, some safe objects, like possibly concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most damaging weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.