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

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have become matted together over the years. They create a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the explosives, creating a revitalized habitat richer than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed astonishing how much life we find in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, scientists wrote in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill all life are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can provide replacements, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This study shows that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in boats; some were placed in allocated sites, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of organisms that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the recent history, surrounding seas are often littered with munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the fact that documents are hidden in historic archives. They create an detonation and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations start extracting these relics, scientists aim to protect the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses left from weapons with certain safer, some harmless structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.