Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Armaments
In the brackish sea off the German shoreline sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and neglected, thousands munitions have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting layer on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.
Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.
Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains 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 barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.
What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a great moment, he says.
Thousands of sea creatures had settled amid the explosives, developing a revitalized ecosystem denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.
This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and dangerous, he says.
Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.
Surprising Creature Concentration
An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.
It is ironic that things that are meant to eliminate everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.
Man-made Features as Marine Habitats
Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This research demonstrates that munitions could be equally advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found elsewhere.
Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in barges; some were placed in designated sites, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how marine life has reacted.
Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation
- In the US, retired energy installations have become marine habitats
- Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
- Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam
These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are typically scarce or declining, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.
Coming Factors
Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are often containing explosives, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our oceans.
The sites of these weapons are inadequately documented, in part because of international boundaries, secret military information and the reality that documents are buried in historic archives. They present an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent release of hazardous substances.
As the German government and other countries begin clearing these relics, scientists hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being extracted.
It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some safer, various harmless materials, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.
He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a example for replacing structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most harmful armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.
