Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had settled amid the explosives, creating a revitalized marine community more populous than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was testament to the resilience of life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, scientists reported in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is surprising that items that are meant to eliminate all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create replacements, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study demonstrates that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of people transported them in boats; some were dropped in allocated areas, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually littered with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the situation that archives are stored in old files. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the persistent release of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations embark on removing these relics, researchers plan to preserve the ecosystems that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being extracted.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with some safer, various safe materials, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for replacing structures after munitions removal in other locations – because including the most destructive weaponry can become framework for new life.