Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands explosives have accumulated over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Thousands of marine animals had made their homes amid the explosives, forming a renewed ecosystem richer than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the resilience of life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we find in areas that are expected to be toxic and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, fuse pockets and transport cases just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of animal life that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the weapons, scientists reported in their study on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This research demonstrates that munitions could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Thousands of people transported them in vessels; some were placed in designated locations, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the seas are increasingly depleted by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively function as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, states Vedenin. Therefore a lot of species that are usually uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Wherever armed conflict has occurred in the last century, surrounding seas are usually containing explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the fact that records are hidden in historical records. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these remains, researchers plan to protect the habitats that have established around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being removed.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures left from munitions with some less dangerous, some harmless structures, like possibly concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a model for replacing structures after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for marine organisms.