Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, countless munitions have accumulated over the years. They create a corroding layer on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had established habitats among the weapons, developing a regenerated habitat denser than the sea floor surrounding it.

This ocean community was proof to the tenacity of life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered dangerous and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all found on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand creatures were living on every meter squared of the munitions, experts wrote in their research on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This study shows that weapons could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of workers placed them in barges; some were placed in allocated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have transformed into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of organisms that are usually rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Issues

Wherever military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, partly because of national borders, restricted military information and the fact that records are hidden in old files. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these remains, scientists aim to safeguard the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

Researchers recommend replace these iron structures left from munitions with some safer, various harmless structures, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for substituting structures after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most damaging armaments can become framework for marine organisms.