Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's coast rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, numerous explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his team members shouting with surprise when the ROV first relayed pictures. It was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had established habitats amid the weapons, creating a regenerated marine community more populous than the ocean bottom nearby.

This underwater metropolis was proof to the tenacity of life. Truly surprising how much marine organisms we discover in places that are considered dangerous and risky, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, researchers documented in their study on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is ironic that items that are designed to eliminate everything are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most risky locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and pipelines can create replacements, restoring some of the lost habitat. This study reveals that explosives could be equally beneficial – the proliferation of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be repeated in other locations.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Numerous of workers loaded them in boats; some were deposited in allocated locations, the remainder just thrown overboard en route. This is the first time scientists have recorded how marine life has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a many of organisms that are otherwise rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the last century, nearby oceans are often strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The positions of these munitions are poorly documented, partly because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the reality that archives are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as risk from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and additional nations start clearing these remains, researchers hope to protect the ecosystems that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are presently being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous materials, like maybe man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting material after explosive extraction in other locations – because including the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.