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

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

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 no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes on the weapons, creating a renewed habitat denser than the seabed around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we discover in places that are considered dangerous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to destroy all life are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create replacements, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation shows that weapons could be equally beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the German coast. Numerous of individuals transported them in barges; some were dropped in allocated locations, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever military conflict has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are often littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partly because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the reality that documents are stored in old files. They present an explosion and safety hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these artifacts, researchers plan to protect the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures remaining from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for substituting habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for new life.