Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he notes.

Countless of ocean life had made their homes amid the munitions, creating a revitalized ecosystem denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the resilience of marine life. It is actually surprising how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are expected to be toxic and risky, he states.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, experts wrote in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that items that are designed to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life finds its way to the most dangerous places.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This research reveals that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Numerous of individuals transported them in vessels; a portion were dropped in designated areas, others just dumped during transport. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of species that are typically rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the recent history, adjacent waters are typically containing munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are poorly recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the reality that archives are buried in historical records. They pose an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the continuous release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries begin removing these remains, experts aim to preserve the marine communities that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures originating from munitions with some safer, some harmless objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, suggests Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because including the most damaging armaments can become framework for new life.