Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast sits a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons eroded.

We initially anticipated to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had established habitats amid the weapons, forming a renewed ecosystem more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we observe in places that are considered dangerous and risky, he explains.

More than 40 starfish had piled on to one accessible 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 found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, scientists reported in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are meant to destroy everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can offer substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of arms were discarded off the German shoreline. Numerous of workers loaded them in boats; some were deposited in specific sites, others just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically act as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are otherwise rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Wherever military conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are often littered with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are poorly recorded, partly because of international boundaries, restricted armed forces records and the situation that documents are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on removing these artifacts, researchers plan to safeguard the habitats that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are already being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some safer, various non-dangerous materials, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a example for replacing structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because also the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.