Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a rusting layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of marine animals had made their homes among the munitions, forming a renewed marine community more populous than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the resilience of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered dangerous and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was there, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to kill everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that munitions could be equally beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of workers transported them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have transformed into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of organisms that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately recorded, in part because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the situation that archives are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations begin clearing these relics, scientists plan to protect the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are already being cleared.

We should substitute these iron structures remaining from munitions with some more secure, various harmless structures, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.