Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, numerous munitions have become matted together over the decades. They create a decaying blanket on the low-depth, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons eroded.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says a scientist.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first transmitted footage. That moment was a remarkable experience, he says.

Countless of marine animals had settled on the explosives, forming a revitalized habitat denser than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was evidence to the resilience of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are considered hazardous and harmful, he says.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed piece of TNT. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was present, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand animals were living on every meter squared of the explosives, researchers documented in their study on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to kill all life are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and pipelines can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This investigation reveals that explosives could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Numerous of individuals placed them in boats; some were deposited in allocated areas, others just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have become marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas essentially act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are otherwise uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere military conflict has happened in the recent history, nearby oceans are often containing explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately mapped, in part because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the situation that records are hidden in historical records. They present an explosion and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and other countries embark on removing these artifacts, researchers aim to preserve the ecosystems that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures left from weapons with some less dangerous, various non-dangerous materials, like maybe concrete structures, says Vedenin.

He presently aspires that what transpires in Lübeck sets a model for replacing habitats after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.