Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had settled amid the explosives, creating a renewed marine community richer than the seabed surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the persistence of life. Truly surprising how much life we observe in areas that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

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

It is surprising that objects that are designed to eliminate all life are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide replacements, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of people loaded them in vessels; some were deposited in specific sites, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively function as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically littered with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, partially because of national borders, restricted defense data and the fact that archives are hidden in old files. They present an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states start removing these remains, researchers plan to protect the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some safer, various non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.