Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They create a decaying layer on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Some of us thought to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes among the explosives, forming a renewed ecosystem more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we find in locations that are considered toxic and harmful, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed piece of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers reported in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of individuals placed them in barges; some were deposited in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. Consequently a lot of species that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Wherever warfare has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are typically containing explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the situation that documents are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and security risk, as well as danger from the continuous release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations begin removing these relics, researchers hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with some safer, some safe objects, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in Lübeck establishes a model for replacing habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful armaments can become framework for ocean ecosystems.