Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, countless explosives have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

We initially thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recounts his team members exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats amid the munitions, developing a revitalized ecosystem richer than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are considered dangerous and harmful, he says.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every square metre of the explosives, researchers documented in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are intended to destroy everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that weapons could be equally advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; some were deposited in specific locations, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the first time researchers have recorded how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of organisms that are typically uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these munitions are poorly recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the fact that records are hidden in old files. They present an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations start clearing these artifacts, researchers aim to preserve the habitats that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with some safer, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because even the most harmful armaments can become framework for new life.