🔗 Share this article Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Armaments In the slightly salty waters off the German coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic. Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated. Some of us expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist. When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist. What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he recalls. Countless of sea creatures had made their homes on the munitions, forming a revitalized marine community more populous than the seabed around it. This ocean community was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says. More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of animal life that was present, states Vedenin. Surprising Population Density An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers wrote in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared. It is surprising that things that are designed to destroy everything are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most hazardous locations. Man-made Features as Ocean Environments Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated elsewhere. Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals loaded them in vessels; some were dropped in allocated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has reacted. Global Instances of Ocean Transformation In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing. Coming Factors Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our marine environments. The positions of these explosives are poorly documented, partly because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the fact that documents are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and safety danger, as well as risk from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds. As Germany and other countries start clearing these relics, researchers hope to preserve the marine communities that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being removed. It would be wise to substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with some safer, some harmless objects, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin. He now hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most destructive weaponry can become framework for new life.
In the slightly salty waters off the German coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They create a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic. Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated. Some of us expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist. When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist. What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a remarkable experience, he recalls. Countless of sea creatures had made their homes on the munitions, forming a revitalized marine community more populous than the seabed around it. This ocean community was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says. More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of animal life that was present, states Vedenin. Surprising Population Density An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers wrote in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared. It is surprising that things that are designed to destroy everything are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most hazardous locations. Man-made Features as Ocean Environments Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated elsewhere. Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals loaded them in vessels; some were dropped in allocated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has reacted. Global Instances of Ocean Transformation In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing. Coming Factors Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually strewn with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our marine environments. The positions of these explosives are poorly documented, partly because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the fact that documents are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and safety danger, as well as risk from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds. As Germany and other countries start clearing these relics, researchers hope to preserve the marine communities that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being removed. It would be wise to substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with some safer, some harmless objects, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin. He now hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for substituting structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most destructive weaponry can become framework for new life.