Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, numerous munitions have become matted together over the years. They comprise a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

What they observed amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first transmitted footage. That moment was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had settled on the explosives, developing a renewed marine community denser than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was testament to the persistence of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in locations that are expected to be dangerous and dangerous, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were living on steel casings, fuse pockets and transport cases just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all discovered on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of creatures that was there, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every square metre of the weapons, scientists documented in their research on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adjusts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that explosives could be similarly positive – the proliferation of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be found in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of individuals loaded them in vessels; a portion were dropped in designated locations, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively serve as refuges – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is restricted, says Vedenin. Consequently a many of marine species that are usually scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has happened in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are usually strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of explosive material remain in our marine environments.

The positions of these explosives are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the reality that records are buried in old files. They pose an detonation and safety risk, as well as danger from the continuous emission of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and additional nations embark on extracting these artifacts, scientists aim to protect the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some less dangerous, some non-dangerous structures, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most damaging armaments can become foundation for new life.