Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous explosives have accumulated over the decades. They form a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons decayed.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes on the explosives, creating a revitalized ecosystem more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the tenacity of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had gathered on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. It's similar to a marine reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand organisms were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, experts documented in their study on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are designed to destroy everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can offer substitutes, replacing some of the removed habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of weapons were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in boats; some were deposited in allocated areas, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as refuges – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of marine species that are typically rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are often containing explosives, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately documented, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the reality that documents are hidden in old files. They pose an detonation and safety hazard, as well as threat from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these artifacts, scientists aim to protect the habitats that have established in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck weapons are presently being extracted.

We should replace these metal carcasses left from munitions with certain more secure, various safe materials, like possibly concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most destructive explosives can become framework for ocean ecosystems.