Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Armaments

In the brackish sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, thousands weapons have accumulated over the years. They create a decaying carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons deteriorated.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains a scientist.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats amid the weapons, developing a regenerated ecosystem denser than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This marine city was evidence to the resilience of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much life we find in places that are considered dangerous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its dangerous content. Fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers reported in their paper on the finding. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are designed to destroy everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, replacing some of the removed marine environment. This research reveals that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were discarded off the German coast. Countless of individuals loaded them in vessels; some were dropped in allocated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. Therefore a lot of marine species that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Issues

Anywhere military conflict has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are typically littered with munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are inadequately documented, partially because of national borders, secret military information and the fact that records are hidden in historic archives. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as danger from the continuous release of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and additional nations begin extracting these artifacts, scientists aim to preserve the marine communities that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.

It would be wise to replace these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, various harmless objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a example for substituting structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because also the most damaging weaponry can become framework for marine organisms.