Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have become matted together over the years. They form a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he says.

Numerous of ocean life had settled on the weapons, creating a renewed ecosystem more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we find in areas that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every square metre of the munitions, researchers reported in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to eliminate all life are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study shows that munitions could be similarly positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of individuals transported them in vessels; some were deposited in specific sites, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, secret defense data and the situation that documents are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as threat from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states embark on clearing these relics, researchers plan to preserve the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain safer, various non-dangerous objects, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a example for replacing material after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most harmful armaments can become foundation for new life.