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

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding carpet on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part 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 tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes amid the explosives, developing a revitalized marine community more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of life. It is actually remarkable how much life we observe in locations that are considered hazardous and risky, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers reported in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are meant to kill all life are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide replacements, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This investigation shows that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in boats; some were dropped in designated sites, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are usually containing weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately documented, partly because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the situation that archives are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these artifacts, researchers hope to protect the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

We should replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some more secure, various harmless objects, like perhaps man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most destructive armaments can become foundation for new life.