Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have accumulated over the years. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

Researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, the team thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin recounts his team members shouting with surprise when the submersible first sent the images back. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Countless of marine animals had established habitats on the weapons, creating a renewed marine community more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of life. Indeed surprising how much life we discover in locations that are expected to be dangerous and risky, he explains.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists reported in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are intended to destroy all life are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life finds its way to the most risky places.

Man-made Features as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be comparably advantageous – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of workers transported them in barges; some were placed in specific sites, others just dumped during transport. This is the first time experts have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These locations become even more important for organisms as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations effectively serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the last century, nearby oceans are typically containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, restricted defense data and the situation that records are buried in historical records. They pose an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and different states embark on removing these remains, scientists plan to preserve the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are presently being extracted.

We should replace these steel remains left from weapons with certain less dangerous, various safe structures, like maybe man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a example for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because even the most destructive explosives can become framework for marine organisms.