Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and neglected, numerous weapons have accumulated over the years. They form a corroding layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

Researchers anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes on the munitions, creating a renewed marine community richer than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much life we find in places that are expected to be toxic and dangerous, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the quantity of creatures that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists documented in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create substitutes, restoring some of the lost habitat. This investigation demonstrates that weapons could be equally advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were dumped off the German shoreline. Thousands of people placed them in boats; some were deposited in allocated sites, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures 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 environment to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are usually strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, partly because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the reality that documents are hidden in historic archives. They present an explosion and security risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and additional nations begin extracting these artifacts, scientists aim to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are already being extracted.

We should replace these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain less dangerous, some safe objects, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.