Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline lies a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands munitions have become matted together over the decades. They form a rusting layer on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

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 ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he says.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes among the explosives, creating a renewed habitat denser than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. Truly astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are expected to be dangerous and harmful, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had gathered on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers documented in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the destroyed marine environment. This research shows that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of people placed them in boats; some were dropped in designated areas, the remainder just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more valuable for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are usually rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Factors

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often littered with weapons, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances remain in our oceans.

The locations of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, classified defense data and the reality that documents are hidden in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety hazard, as well as risk from the persistent release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations start clearing these relics, scientists hope to protect the habitats that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these steel remains left from weapons with certain more secure, some non-dangerous structures, like perhaps concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in Lübeck sets a model for replacing material after explosive extraction in different areas – because also the most damaging armaments can become framework for marine organisms.