Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Marine Life Prosper on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish waters off the German coast sits a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and neglected, countless munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They form a corroding blanket on the low-depth, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

We initially expected to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he notes.

Numerous of sea creatures had made their homes amid the weapons, forming a revitalized habitat denser than the ocean bottom nearby.

This ocean community was testament to the tenacity of marine life. Indeed remarkable how much life we find in locations that are expected to be toxic and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were residing on iron containers, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the historic weapons. It resembles a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were residing on every meter squared of the munitions, scientists wrote in their research on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are meant to kill everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. It's evident how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Structures as Marine Habitats

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed habitat. This research shows that munitions could be comparably advantageous – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be repeated in other locations.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's coast. Countless of individuals placed them in vessels; some were placed in specific areas, the remainder just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance researchers have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, retired drilling platforms have turned into marine habitats
• Shipwrecks from the World War I have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These places become even more important for wildlife as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations practically act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, explains Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are typically rare or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are usually littered with explosives, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The sites of these weapons are poorly mapped, partly because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the situation that records are stored in old files. They pose an detonation and security risk, as well as threat from the continuous emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start clearing these remains, researchers aim to protect the habitats that have developed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being extracted.

We should replace these iron structures remaining from weapons with some less dangerous, some safe objects, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a model for replacing structures after explosive extraction elsewhere – because also the most harmful armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.