World War II Bombs, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, countless weapons have become matted together over the years. They create a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions eroded.

Some of us thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of marine animals had established habitats among the explosives, developing a revitalized ecosystem richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are supposed to be dangerous and harmful, he states.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were living on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every square metre of the munitions, experts documented in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are intended to destroy everything are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This study shows that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of workers loaded them in barges; some were placed in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time experts have studied how marine life has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites essentially serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are otherwise uncommon or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Wherever military conflict has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are usually containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are poorly recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the reality that archives are buried in historic archives. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start removing these remains, experts plan to protect the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous objects, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting material after weapon clearance in other locations – because even the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.