Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German coast rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have accumulated over the decades. They form a decaying layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

Some of us anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

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

Numerous of ocean life had made their homes among the explosives, developing a revitalized habitat more populous than the sea floor nearby.

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

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to eliminate all life are drawing so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer replacements, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that explosives could be similarly positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German coast. Countless of workers loaded them in vessels; some were dropped in designated sites, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned drilling platforms have become coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially function as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, states Vedenin. As a result a many of marine species that are typically uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever military conflict has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are often littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are poorly recorded, partly because of national borders, secret armed forces records and the fact that documents are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the continuous release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries begin removing these relics, scientists hope to protect the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain safer, some non-dangerous objects, like possibly artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most harmful armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.