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

In the slightly salty waters off the German coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from barges at the end of the second world war and left behind, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting layer on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first relayed pictures. This was a remarkable experience, he says.

Countless of sea creatures had made their homes among the weapons, creating a renewed habitat more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be dangerous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers reported in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are designed to kill all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create alternatives, compensating for some of the lost habitat. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals transported them in barges; some were placed in specific sites, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are usually scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are typically littered with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are inadequately mapped, partly because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the fact that archives are hidden in historical records. They pose an explosion and security danger, as well as risk from the persistent emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states begin clearing these relics, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most damaging weaponry can become foundation for new life.