Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, thousands munitions have become matted together over the years. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Researchers expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had established habitats amid the munitions, developing a regenerated marine community richer than the seabed around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we find in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are meant to destroy everything are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Countless of workers loaded them in vessels; some were deposited in specific areas, others just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually containing munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately mapped, partially because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the fact that records are hidden in old files. They create an explosion and security hazard, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin removing these relics, experts hope to safeguard the habitats that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures left from munitions with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous structures, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most damaging explosives can become framework for marine organisms.