Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the end of the World War II and left behind, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a corroding layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes among the explosives, developing a revitalized ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom around it.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in areas that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers reported in their paper on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to kill all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of workers loaded them in boats; some were deposited in allocated locations, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a lot of species that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are typically containing munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these explosives are insufficiently documented, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that archives are buried in historical records. They create an detonation and security danger, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these artifacts, scientists aim to preserve the marine communities that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are already being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with some more secure, some non-dangerous materials, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in Lübeck creates a model for substituting material after munitions removal elsewhere – because even the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.