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

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline rests a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands weapons have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists came to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

Some of us expected to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, says a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a great moment, he recalls.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes on the weapons, creating a regenerated marine community more populous than the ocean bottom surrounding it.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of marine life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be toxic and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of creatures that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the explosives, experts wrote in their research on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are intended to kill all life are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most hazardous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create alternatives, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This research shows that weapons could be equally positive – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of workers transported them in vessels; a portion were placed in designated sites, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have studied how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in the Pacific island

These locations become even more valuable for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically serve as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of organisms that are usually scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Issues

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually containing munitions, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently recorded, in part because of international boundaries, classified military information and the fact that records are hidden in historic archives. They pose an explosion and safety hazard, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries embark on extracting these remains, experts hope to protect the habitats that have developed around them. In the Lübeck Bay explosives are currently being cleared.

We should replace these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting structures after weapon clearance in other locations – because also the most damaging armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.