Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German coast rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and neglected, countless explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a decaying blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of sea creatures had settled on the munitions, developing a renewed habitat more populous than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists reported in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are meant to kill all life are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This research reveals that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of individuals loaded them in barges; a portion were placed in designated sites, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of species that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are usually containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The positions of these munitions are poorly recorded, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the situation that archives are stored in old files. They create an explosion and safety hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries begin extracting these relics, experts hope to preserve the marine communities that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain safer, various safe structures, like maybe concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now hopes that what happens in Lübeck creates a model for replacing structures after munitions removal in different areas – because even the most damaging explosives can become framework for marine organisms.