Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms 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. This was a remarkable experience, he says.

Countless of ocean life had made their homes amid the weapons, creating a revitalized ecosystem denser than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Truly astonishing how much life we find in areas that are expected to be toxic and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were living on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the quantity of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, scientists reported in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are intended to kill all life are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of individuals transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war 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 beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a lot of marine species that are typically rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Factors

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are usually littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately mapped, partially because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the fact that archives are hidden in historic archives. They create an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states begin removing these relics, experts hope to safeguard the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures originating from munitions with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous objects, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most harmful weaponry can become framework for marine organisms.