Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the second world war and neglected, thousands explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

We initially expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of ocean life had settled among the explosives, creating a revitalized marine community denser than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the resilience of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he says.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every square metre of the weapons, experts reported in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that objects that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide replacements, restoring some of the removed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that weapons could be comparably positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people transported them in boats; some were dropped in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are often strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are poorly documented, partially because of national borders, secret military information and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries embark on clearing these artifacts, scientists hope to preserve the ecosystems that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with certain less dangerous, some safe materials, like possibly artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck sets a model for substituting structures after munitions removal in other locations – because even the most damaging weaponry can become foundation for new life.