Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states 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 lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had established habitats amid the explosives, developing a regenerated habitat richer than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much life we find in places that are expected to be hazardous and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers wrote in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to destroy all life are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This study demonstrates that explosives could be comparably positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in barges; some were dropped in specific locations, others just thrown overboard during transport. This is the initial instance experts have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are typically scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Wherever warfare has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically strewn with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partly because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the situation that records are buried in historical records. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these artifacts, experts plan to preserve the habitats that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain less dangerous, some safe materials, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.