World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, numerous weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding layer on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Numerous of marine animals had settled on the munitions, forming a revitalized ecosystem richer than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was evidence to the persistence of life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are considered hazardous and harmful, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their study on the observation. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to eliminate all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be equally advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of arms were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers transported them in barges; some were deposited in allocated sites, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats 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 places become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are usually scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are often littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are poorly recorded, partly because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the situation that documents are buried in old files. They present an explosion and security risk, as well as threat from the continuous leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin clearing these relics, scientists plan to protect the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses left from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless materials, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He now hopes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because including the most destructive weaponry can become framework for new life.