Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had settled amid the explosives, creating a revitalized ecosystem more populous than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to destroy all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in boats; some were dropped in allocated locations, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of marine species that are otherwise scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are often littered with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our marine environments.

The positions of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the reality that archives are hidden in historic archives. They create an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on extracting these remains, researchers aim to preserve the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

We should substitute these steel remains originating from weapons with certain more secure, various safe objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting structures after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.