Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands munitions have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes among the explosives, developing a renewed marine community more populous than the sea floor around it.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of life. Truly astonishing how much life we observe in locations that are considered hazardous and risky, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the munitions, experts reported in their study on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most risky places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of individuals placed them in vessels; a portion were dropped in specific sites, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed into marine habitats
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are usually containing explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, in part because of sovereign limits, classified military information and the fact that archives are stored in historical records. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the ongoing release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries embark on removing these remains, researchers hope to preserve the ecosystems that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are currently being extracted.

We should replace these steel remains originating from munitions with some safer, various harmless objects, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what happens in Lübeck establishes a example for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most damaging explosives can become scaffolding for new life.