Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands munitions have accumulated over the years. They comprise a rusting carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Researchers anticipated to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. It was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of ocean life had settled on the weapons, forming a renewed marine community richer than the sea floor nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we find in areas that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, experts reported in their paper on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to eliminate everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This study demonstrates that weapons could be comparably beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people placed them in barges; some were dropped in designated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time scientists have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become environments for wildlife 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 areas become even more important for marine life as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas essentially function as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are typically littered with munitions, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The sites of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, classified defense data and the situation that documents are hidden in old files. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As the German government and additional nations embark on clearing these remains, researchers aim to preserve the ecosystems that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are presently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures remaining from weapons with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous materials, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing material after explosive extraction in other locations – because also the most harmful explosives can become foundation for ocean ecosystems.