Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, countless munitions have accumulated over the years. They form a decaying carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

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

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled among the munitions, forming a renewed ecosystem more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the resilience of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are considered dangerous and harmful, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, experts reported in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are meant to eliminate all life are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that munitions could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers placed them in vessels; a portion were deposited in designated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Wherever military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually littered with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are poorly documented, partially because of international boundaries, classified defense data and the situation that documents are buried in old files. They pose an detonation and security hazard, as well as threat from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states begin clearing these remains, researchers plan to protect the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being removed.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from munitions with some more secure, some harmless materials, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in Lübeck creates a example for substituting structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because even the most damaging explosives can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.