World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Countless of marine animals had made their homes on the munitions, forming a renewed ecosystem more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of marine life. Indeed surprising how much life we discover in areas that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists wrote in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to eliminate all life are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the Germany's coast. Countless of workers transported them in vessels; a portion were placed in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have become coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, says Vedenin. As a result a numerous of marine species that are typically uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are usually littered with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partly because of national borders, classified defense data and the reality that documents are stored in historical records. They pose an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations embark on clearing these remains, scientists aim to preserve the habitats that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses left from weapons with some less dangerous, various harmless objects, like maybe concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a example for replacing material after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most destructive weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.