Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They form a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats among the munitions, developing a regenerated ecosystem more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was proof to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are supposed to be toxic and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers wrote in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, replacing some of the removed habitat. This study shows that weapons could be comparably positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals transported them in vessels; a portion were deposited in designated sites, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are typically littered with weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the fact that documents are stored in historical records. They present an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations begin extracting these relics, researchers hope to safeguard the marine communities that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being cleared.

We should substitute these iron structures originating from weapons with certain more secure, some non-dangerous materials, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what happens in Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.