Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish waters off the Germany's shoreline sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the World War II and left behind, thousands explosives have accumulated over the decades. They comprise a decaying carpet on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of tourists traveled to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, says the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a great moment, he says.

Numerous of ocean life had established habitats amid the weapons, developing a revitalized marine community denser than the sea floor around it.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the persistence of marine life. Indeed surprising how much marine organisms we find in areas that are considered hazardous and risky, he explains.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible fragment of TNT. They were living on metal shells, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its explosive filling. Fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all found on the old munitions. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the abundance of animal life that was inhabiting the area, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, experts wrote in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to eliminate all life are attracting so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adapts after a major disaster such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most risky locations.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German coast. Thousands of individuals transported them in barges; some were deposited in specific areas, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time scientists have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically act as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are otherwise scarce or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has happened in the recent history, adjacent waters are often containing explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently recorded, partially because of international boundaries, classified defense data and the fact that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As the German government and different states start extracting these relics, researchers hope to preserve the marine communities that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being extracted.

Researchers recommend replace these steel remains remaining from weapons with some safer, various safe structures, like perhaps concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what occurs in Lübeck sets a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction in different areas – because including the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.