Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a rusting layer on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Researchers thought to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats among the explosives, creating a revitalized marine community more populous than the sea floor surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the tenacity of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are supposed to be toxic and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every square metre of the weapons, experts wrote in their study on the finding. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are intended to eliminate everything are hosting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the lost habitat. This study shows that munitions could be similarly advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the German shoreline. Numerous of individuals placed them in vessels; a portion were placed in designated areas, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time experts have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have transformed into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become environments for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for marine life as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the last century, surrounding seas are typically strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material lie in our seas.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partly because of national borders, restricted military information and the situation that archives are buried in historic archives. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations embark on removing these remains, experts hope to preserve the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being removed.

We should replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for replacing material after explosive extraction in different areas – because even the most damaging weaponry can become foundation for marine organisms.