World War II Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous explosives have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding layer on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had established habitats on the weapons, forming a renewed marine community more populous than the seabed nearby.

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

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every square metre of the munitions, scientists wrote in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most risky places.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This study demonstrates that weapons could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated locations, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites practically serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of species that are typically rare or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are often littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds lie in our seas.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, partly because of national borders, classified defense data and the reality that records are buried in historic archives. They pose an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states begin clearing these remains, researchers hope to preserve the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.

Researchers recommend replace these metal carcasses left from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless materials, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most harmful armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.