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

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats among the explosives, developing a regenerated habitat richer than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we find in areas that are expected to be toxic and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was inhabiting the area, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the explosives, scientists documented in their study on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are intended to destroy everything are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This investigation reveals that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers placed them in barges; some were dropped in specific areas, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately mapped, partially because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the situation that archives are buried in old files. They present an detonation and safety risk, as well as risk from the persistent emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these artifacts, scientists plan to safeguard the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these metal carcasses originating from weapons with certain safer, some harmless objects, like maybe artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a example for replacing material after munitions removal in other locations – because even the most destructive armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.