Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin recalls his team members reacting with shock when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled among the explosives, creating a regenerated habitat denser than the seabed around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he says.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are intended to eliminate all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This study reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the German shoreline. Countless of people transported them in barges; a portion were placed in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time experts have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Anywhere warfare has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are inadequately recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the fact that records are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these remains, experts aim to protect the habitats that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being cleared.

We should replace these steel remains left from munitions with certain safer, various harmless structures, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most damaging armaments can become framework for marine organisms.