Nazi Explosives, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Dumped Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and left behind, thousands munitions have accumulated over the years. They comprise a rusting blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors traveled to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

Some of us thought to see a desert, with no life because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, the team thought they would find a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his team members reacting with shock when the submersible first relayed pictures. This was a memorable occasion, he notes.

Thousands of ocean life had settled amid the weapons, creating a renewed ecosystem richer than the sea floor around it.

This marine city was testament to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in areas that are expected to be toxic and risky, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one accessible piece of TNT. They were living on steel casings, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, researchers reported in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only eight thousand individuals on every meter squared.

It is ironic that items that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. It's evident how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer alternatives, restoring some of the removed habitat. This investigation shows that weapons could be comparably advantageous – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is probable to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of weapons were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of individuals loaded them in boats; some were deposited in specific areas, the remainder just dumped during transport. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has reacted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more crucial for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas practically act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is banned, states Vedenin. Consequently a many of species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Future Factors

Anywhere warfare has happened in the recent history, surrounding seas are often containing weapons, says Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently documented, partially because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that archives are buried in old files. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of hazardous substances.

As the German government and different states embark on removing these remains, researchers aim to preserve the marine communities that have established around them. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are currently being cleared.

We should substitute these metal carcasses originating from munitions with some safer, some safe structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for substituting habitats after explosive extraction in other locations – because even the most damaging explosives can become scaffolding for new life.