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

In the brackish sea off the German coast lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They form a decaying blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

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

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes amid the explosives, forming a renewed marine community more populous than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are considered toxic and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed piece of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the weapons, experts documented in their research on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to destroy all life are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be equally beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of people placed them in barges; some were placed in specific locations, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere warfare has happened in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, classified armed forces records and the fact that archives are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and security danger, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations start clearing these remains, experts aim to preserve the habitats that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being removed.

We should substitute these iron structures remaining from weapons with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous structures, like maybe artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most damaging armaments can become framework for marine organisms.