Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous munitions have accumulated over the years. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a great moment, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats amid the explosives, forming a renewed marine community denser than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be toxic and risky, he states.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed piece of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, researchers wrote in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to eliminate all life are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide replacements, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This study demonstrates that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in barges; some were deposited in specific sites, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time experts have recorded how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have become coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of organisms that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever warfare has taken place in the last century, nearby oceans are often littered with explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and security hazard, as well as threat from the continuous emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations begin removing these remains, researchers aim to protect the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with certain more secure, some harmless materials, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most harmful explosives can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.