Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline sits a collection of World War II explosives, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and forgotten about, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions decayed.

Researchers thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of sea creatures had established habitats among the explosives, forming a regenerated habitat richer than the seabed nearby.

This marine city was proof to the resilience of life. Truly astonishing how much life we find in areas that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on iron containers, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, researchers reported in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most risky places.

Artificial Features as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation shows that weapons could be comparably beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of individuals placed them in boats; some were deposited in specific sites, others just dumped en route. This is the initial instance scientists have studied how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have become reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of species that are otherwise scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are typically littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of explosive material rest in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are poorly documented, in part because of national borders, classified armed forces records and the fact that documents are hidden in historical records. They present an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and different states embark on removing these remains, scientists plan to preserve the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures remaining from weapons with certain more secure, various harmless objects, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for replacing structures after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most harmful weaponry can become foundation for new life.