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

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous explosives have become matted together over the years. They comprise a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had made their homes among the munitions, creating a revitalized habitat denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are expected to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists documented in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that objects that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This study demonstrates that explosives could be comparably positive – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Countless of people placed them in vessels; a portion were dropped in designated areas, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how marine life has reacted.

Global Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have become reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the oceans are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are usually containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, partially because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the situation that records are buried in old files. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries embark on extracting these remains, scientists plan to preserve the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless structures, like maybe artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after munitions removal elsewhere – because even the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.