Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats among the explosives, creating a regenerated habitat more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. It is actually remarkable how much life we find in areas that are considered toxic and dangerous, he says.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, scientists wrote in their paper on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the removed habitat. This study shows that munitions could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of individuals transported them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the oceans are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of species that are usually rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever military conflict has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently documented, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that documents are buried in old files. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states start clearing these artifacts, researchers aim to preserve the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous objects, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what happens in Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing material after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.