Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a decaying carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes among the weapons, forming a renewed habitat more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers documented in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to eliminate everything are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, restoring some of the removed habitat. This study reveals that munitions could be comparably positive – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people loaded them in barges; some were deposited in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance experts have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are usually scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partly because of national borders, classified defense data and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They present an explosion and safety hazard, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states begin extracting these relics, scientists hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures left from munitions with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous structures, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most destructive armaments can become foundation for new life.