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

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recounts his team members shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats amid the munitions, forming a renewed marine community more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of marine life. Truly surprising how much life we find in areas that are considered toxic and risky, he states.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists documented in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to eliminate all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, replacing some of the removed habitat. This study reveals that weapons could be equally positive – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the German shoreline. Numerous of workers placed them in barges; a portion were placed in allocated sites, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are poorly mapped, partly because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the situation that documents are hidden in old files. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations start removing these artifacts, experts aim to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with certain less dangerous, various safe structures, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for substituting structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.