Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the World War II and neglected, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats amid the explosives, creating a renewed ecosystem richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the explosives, experts documented in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are meant to eliminate everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people loaded them in vessels; some were deposited in allocated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are often containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are poorly recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the reality that records are buried in old files. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations begin removing these remains, researchers plan to protect the habitats that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being extracted.

We should substitute these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with certain safer, some harmless materials, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most damaging armaments can become foundation for new life.