Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German coast rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands explosives have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a rusting layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

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

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed surprising how much life we find in places that are considered toxic and dangerous, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their study on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation shows that weapons could be similarly positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were discarded off the Germany's coast. Numerous of people loaded them in boats; a portion were placed in specific sites, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are typically littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are poorly mapped, in part because of national borders, restricted defense data and the reality that archives are stored in historical records. They present an explosion and security hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these remains, researchers aim to preserve the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with certain less dangerous, various safe structures, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most harmful armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.