Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Numerous of ocean life had established habitats on the explosives, forming a regenerated marine community more populous than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we discover in locations that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every square metre of the explosives, experts documented in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer replacements, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This study reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in vessels; some were placed in allocated locations, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are usually rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are usually strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, secret defense data and the fact that documents are hidden in old files. They create an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin removing these remains, researchers hope to protect the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from weapons with certain safer, various non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after munitions removal in other locations – because including the most damaging explosives can become foundation for new life.