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

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They create a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he recalls.

Numerous of ocean life had settled on the munitions, creating a revitalized habitat more populous than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Truly remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are meant to destroy everything are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This study demonstrates that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of weapons were discarded off the German coast. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; some were placed in designated sites, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically act as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are typically strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are inadequately documented, in part because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the situation that archives are buried in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries embark on removing these artifacts, experts plan to protect the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with some safer, some non-dangerous objects, like possibly man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction in different areas – because including the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.