Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off boats at the end of the second world war and neglected, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes amid the explosives, forming a renewed marine community denser than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in areas that are expected to be hazardous and harmful, he says.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists wrote in their research on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are intended to destroy everything are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were disposed of off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people transported them in barges; some were deposited in specific sites, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially function as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Wherever military conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are typically containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, partly because of national borders, secret military information and the situation that archives are stored in historic archives. They present an detonation and safety hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states begin clearing these relics, scientists aim to protect the ecosystems that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being extracted.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from munitions with some safer, various harmless objects, like possibly concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in Lübeck sets a example for replacing material after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most damaging explosives can become framework for ocean ecosystems.