Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had settled amid the weapons, forming a renewed ecosystem richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are considered dangerous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed piece of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are intended to kill everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Thousands of people transported them in boats; some were placed in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has reacted.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are usually strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are inadequately documented, partly because of international boundaries, restricted military information and the reality that documents are stored in old files. They create an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these remains, researchers hope to protect the ecosystems that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures originating from munitions with some more secure, some harmless objects, like maybe concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for replacing material after munitions removal in different areas – because also the most harmful weaponry can become framework for ocean ecosystems.