Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands explosives have accumulated over the years. They create a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the submersible first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he recalls.

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes on the weapons, forming a regenerated habitat richer than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the persistence of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we find in places that are supposed to be dangerous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, experts wrote in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to kill all life are attracting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This research demonstrates that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of workers loaded them in boats; some were dropped in specific sites, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the first time scientists have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are usually rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are typically strewn with weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, secret defense data and the situation that archives are stored in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin removing these artifacts, experts hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with certain more secure, various harmless structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because even the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.