Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a decaying layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats among the munitions, developing a regenerated marine community more populous than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their research on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to destroy all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, replacing some of the lost habitat. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be equally advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were disposed of off the German shoreline. Numerous of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were dropped in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home 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 stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are often containing explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are poorly documented, partially because of national borders, classified military information and the fact that records are buried in old files. They present an explosion and security hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these relics, scientists aim to protect the marine communities that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some safer, various non-dangerous materials, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a example for replacing material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.