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

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a rusting carpet on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats on the weapons, developing a regenerated marine community more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their research on the observation. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, replacing some of the lost habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals transported them in boats; some were dropped in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time experts have studied how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our seas.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partially because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the fact that records are stored in historic archives. They create an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations begin clearing these relics, experts plan to preserve the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are already being extracted.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain less dangerous, various harmless materials, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a example for replacing structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because even the most damaging explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.