Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, thousands munitions have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats on the explosives, developing a revitalized habitat denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the persistence of life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be hazardous and harmful, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling 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 reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their study on the discovery. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation demonstrates that munitions could be equally beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of workers loaded them in barges; some were placed in designated areas, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more crucial for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately mapped, partially because of international boundaries, restricted military information and the reality that records are hidden in old files. They create an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and different states start removing these artifacts, experts plan to preserve the habitats that have established nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

We should substitute these steel remains originating from munitions with certain safer, various non-dangerous structures, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful explosives can become framework for ocean ecosystems.