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

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recounts his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had settled amid the explosives, forming a regenerated marine community denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are considered toxic and dangerous, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, experts wrote in their research on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are designed to eliminate everything are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide replacements, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This research shows that explosives could be equally beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the German shoreline. Countless of people loaded them in vessels; a portion were dropped in specific sites, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. As a result a lot of marine species that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Wherever warfare has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are often containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the situation that archives are buried in historical records. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these remains, researchers aim to protect the ecosystems that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from munitions with some more secure, various safe structures, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.