World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the second world war and neglected, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Researchers thought to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had made their homes amid the weapons, developing a revitalized marine community richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we discover in places that are expected to be toxic and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every square metre of the explosives, scientists wrote in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create alternatives, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of arms were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in boats; a portion were dropped in designated areas, others just dumped en route. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of organisms that are usually rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the last century, nearby oceans are usually strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The sites of these munitions are poorly documented, in part because of sovereign limits, classified military information and the reality that records are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and security hazard, as well as threat from the continuous release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states embark on clearing these remains, researchers hope to preserve the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being cleared.

We should replace these iron structures left from munitions with certain less dangerous, various safe materials, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most damaging armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.