Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands munitions have become matted together over the years. They create a corroding blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first sent the images back. It was a great moment, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had made their homes amid the munitions, developing a renewed marine community more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, experts reported in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are designed to eliminate all life are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were discarded off the German coast. Numerous of people loaded them in boats; some were placed in specific areas, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time experts have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically strewn with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The locations of these munitions are inadequately recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the fact that records are hidden in historical records. They present an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on removing these relics, experts aim to preserve the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses originating from weapons with certain safer, various non-dangerous objects, like possibly man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting material after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most harmful weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.