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

In the brackish waters off the German coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous explosives have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a decaying blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had settled among the weapons, developing a revitalized habitat more populous than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were living on iron containers, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists reported in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is ironic that things that are intended to kill all life are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, compensating for some of the destroyed habitat. This study reveals that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the German shoreline. Thousands of individuals loaded them in vessels; a portion were placed in allocated areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are usually scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are poorly recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, secret armed forces records and the reality that records are buried in old files. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states start extracting these artifacts, experts hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being cleared.

We should substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some more secure, some non-dangerous objects, like maybe concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most harmful explosives can become framework for new life.