Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Weapons
In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, numerous munitions have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.
Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.
Researchers thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.
When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.
What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. It was a memorable occasion, he says.
Countless of sea creatures had made their homes on the weapons, creating a regenerated habitat richer than the sea floor nearby.
This ocean community was evidence to the resilience of marine life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and harmful, he explains.
In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.
Surprising Population Density
An average of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, experts reported in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.
It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most hazardous places.
Artificial Structures as Marine Environments
Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study reveals that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in different areas.
Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Thousands of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were dropped in designated areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have recorded how marine life has reacted.
Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation
- In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
- Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
- Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam
These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of marine species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.
Coming Issues
Wherever warfare has occurred in the recent history, nearby oceans are typically containing weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our oceans.
The sites of these weapons are insufficiently documented, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that archives are stored in old files. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as risk from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.
As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these relics, experts plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being removed.
Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.
He currently wishes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a example for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most harmful explosives can become foundation for marine organisms.
