Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, numerous munitions have become matted together over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

We initially expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats on the explosives, developing a regenerated habitat more populous than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered dangerous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was there, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be equally beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of workers loaded them in boats; a portion were deposited in specific areas, others just dumped en route. This is the initial instance experts have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have become reef ecosystems
• 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 beach in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are typically scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are often littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, classified armed forces records and the situation that archives are stored in historical records. They present an explosion and security hazard, as well as danger from the continuous emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries embark on extracting these remains, scientists hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being removed.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for replacing structures after munitions removal in other locations – because also the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.