Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous munitions have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a corroding layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes among the weapons, forming a renewed marine community more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the resilience of life. It is actually remarkable how much life we discover in places that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers reported in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are intended to kill everything are hosting so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer alternatives, replacing some of the lost habitat. This study demonstrates that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were discarded off the German coast. Countless of individuals loaded them in vessels; a portion were dropped in specific sites, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance experts have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Factors

Anywhere warfare has happened in the last century, adjacent waters are usually strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our oceans.

The positions of these munitions are inadequately mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the situation that documents are hidden in historic archives. They present an explosion and safety risk, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations begin removing these relics, experts aim to protect the marine communities that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses originating from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless structures, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.