Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, countless explosives have become matted together over the years. They comprise a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. That moment was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes among the weapons, forming a regenerated marine community denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the resilience of marine life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers wrote in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study demonstrates that weapons could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of people placed them in vessels; a portion were placed in allocated sites, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever warfare has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are usually containing munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partially because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the reality that records are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the persistent release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries start clearing these remains, experts plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures left from munitions with some less dangerous, various safe structures, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most damaging armaments can become framework for new life.