Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands explosives have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had settled among the weapons, developing a regenerated ecosystem more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we find in areas that are considered toxic and dangerous, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists documented in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are intended to kill everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This study demonstrates that explosives could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were disposed of off the German coast. Numerous of people loaded them in barges; a portion were deposited in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are usually strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are inadequately recorded, partly because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the fact that documents are buried in historic archives. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these remains, experts plan to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures remaining from munitions with some less dangerous, some harmless structures, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most damaging armaments can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.