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

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a decaying layer on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the weapons, forming a regenerated habitat richer than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we find in locations that are considered toxic and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists documented in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are intended to eliminate everything are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This investigation reveals that weapons could be equally positive – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of workers loaded them in vessels; a portion were dropped in specific sites, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time scientists have recorded how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially act as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are typically uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are typically littered with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are poorly mapped, partly because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the reality that documents are hidden in historic archives. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and other countries start clearing these artifacts, scientists aim to safeguard the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses originating from munitions with certain safer, various harmless materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in Lübeck establishes a model for replacing material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most destructive explosives can become framework for marine organisms.