🔗 Share this article Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Armaments In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea. Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated. We initially thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher. When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher. What they found surprised them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he notes. Countless of ocean life had made their homes on the weapons, creating a renewed marine community denser than the seabed surrounding it. This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in areas that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he explains. More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin. Surprising Population Density An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, researchers wrote in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre. It is surprising that objects that are designed to kill all life are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas. Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study demonstrates that weapons could be equally advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere. Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific locations, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted. Global Examples of Marine Transformation In the US, decommissioned energy installations have turned into marine habitats Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam These places become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing. Future Issues Anywhere military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are often containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our seas. The locations of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, in part because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the situation that archives are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds. As Germany and other countries embark on extracting these relics, experts plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being removed. We should replace these iron structures originating from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin. He presently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because also the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.
In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea. Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated. We initially thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher. When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher. What they found surprised them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he notes. Countless of ocean life had made their homes on the weapons, creating a renewed marine community denser than the seabed surrounding it. This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in areas that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he explains. More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin. Surprising Population Density An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, researchers wrote in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre. It is surprising that objects that are designed to kill all life are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas. Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study demonstrates that weapons could be equally advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere. Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Countless of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were deposited in specific locations, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted. Global Examples of Marine Transformation In the US, decommissioned energy installations have turned into marine habitats Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam These places become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing. Future Issues Anywhere military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are often containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our seas. The locations of these explosives are insufficiently recorded, in part because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the situation that archives are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds. As Germany and other countries embark on extracting these relics, experts plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being removed. We should replace these iron structures originating from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin. He presently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because also the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.