Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, 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, some of us expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of ocean life had settled amid the explosives, creating a revitalized marine community richer than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the explosives, researchers documented in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are designed to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of individuals loaded them in vessels; a portion were deposited in specific locations, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of organisms that are otherwise scarce or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately documented, partially because of national borders, restricted military information and the reality that documents are hidden in old files. They present an detonation and security hazard, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start removing these remains, scientists hope to preserve the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some less dangerous, various safe materials, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for replacing structures after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most damaging explosives can become framework for marine organisms.