Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands munitions have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a rusting layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had settled on the weapons, developing a renewed habitat more populous than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are supposed to be dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every square metre of the munitions, experts reported in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer replacements, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study demonstrates that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers loaded them in vessels; some were dropped in specific locations, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are usually rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever warfare has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are usually strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The positions of these weapons are inadequately mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, secret defense data and the reality that archives are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states embark on removing these relics, scientists hope to preserve the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with some more secure, various harmless structures, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after munitions removal in different areas – because also the most destructive armaments can become framework for new life.