Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, the team expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recounts his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes amid the explosives, developing a renewed marine community more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in locations that are considered dangerous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every square metre of the munitions, scientists reported in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are intended to eliminate everything are hosting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of people loaded them in barges; a portion were deposited in designated sites, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the first time scientists have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are usually scarce or declining, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically containing explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partially because of sovereign limits, classified defense data and the reality that documents are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries embark on clearing these artifacts, researchers aim to preserve the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures remaining from munitions with certain safer, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting structures after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most harmful explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.