Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, thousands explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats among the munitions, forming a regenerated habitat more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the resilience of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we find in locations that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists reported in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This study shows that munitions could be comparably positive – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of workers loaded them in vessels; a portion were placed in allocated areas, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are otherwise scarce or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually containing explosives, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partially because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the reality that records are stored in old files. They pose an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these artifacts, experts plan to preserve the ecosystems that have established in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses left from munitions with some more secure, various non-dangerous structures, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a model for replacing material after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.