Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, numerous weapons have become matted together over the decades. They form a decaying blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

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

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats amid the explosives, creating a regenerated habitat more populous than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and risky, he says.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, researchers wrote in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that explosives could be equally beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in barges; a portion were placed in specific sites, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically function as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are typically scarce or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the last century, adjacent waters are typically containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partly because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that archives are stored in old files. They pose an explosion and security risk, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these relics, experts aim to protect the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with certain more secure, various safe materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for new life.