Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German coast sits a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from barges at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting blanket on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was ignored and neglected. A growing number of tourists flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists shouting with surprise when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of ocean life had settled amid the munitions, forming a renewed ecosystem richer than the seabed nearby.

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

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, says Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, scientists documented in their paper on the observation. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill all life are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous places.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer replacements, replacing some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be duplicated in different areas.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were disposed of off the Germany's coast. Countless of people placed them in barges; some were dropped in specific locations, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have recorded how ocean organisms has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites effectively serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is restricted, explains Vedenin. Therefore a lot of organisms that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, nearby oceans are often containing explosives, states Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are poorly documented, in part because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the reality that archives are hidden in historic archives. They pose an detonation and security danger, as well as danger from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start clearing these remains, researchers hope to protect the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures originating from munitions with certain more secure, some harmless materials, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing habitats after weapon clearance elsewhere – because also the most damaging explosives can become framework for new life.