🔗 Share this article Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Discarded Armaments In the brackish sea off the German coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They create a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic. Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated. Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin. When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist. What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls. Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats among the munitions, forming a renewed habitat richer than the sea floor around it. This ocean community was proof to the resilience of life. Truly surprising how much life we discover in areas that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he states. More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, says Vedenin. Remarkable Creature Concentration An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every square metre of the weapons, researchers documented in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared. It is surprising that items that are designed to destroy everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky locations. Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in other locations. Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific areas, others just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has adapted. Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation In the US, retired drilling platforms have become coral reefs Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island These areas become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing. Coming Issues Wherever military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our oceans. The locations of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the fact that documents are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and security danger, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals. As the German government and additional nations begin clearing these relics, experts hope to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being removed. It would be wise to replace these iron structures remaining from weapons with some safer, some safe materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin. He presently hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most damaging armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.
In the brackish sea off the German coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They create a decaying layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic. Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated. Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin. When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist. What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls. Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats among the munitions, forming a renewed habitat richer than the sea floor around it. This ocean community was proof to the resilience of life. Truly surprising how much life we discover in areas that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he states. More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, says Vedenin. Remarkable Creature Concentration An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every square metre of the weapons, researchers documented in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared. It is surprising that items that are designed to destroy everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky locations. Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in other locations. Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific areas, others just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has adapted. Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation In the US, retired drilling platforms have become coral reefs Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island These areas become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing. Coming Issues Wherever military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our oceans. The locations of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the fact that documents are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and security danger, as well as danger from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals. As the German government and additional nations begin clearing these relics, experts hope to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being removed. It would be wise to replace these iron structures remaining from weapons with some safer, some safe materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin. He presently hopes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after munitions removal in different areas – because including the most damaging armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.