Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: How Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline rests a graveyard of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous explosives have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a corroding carpet on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

We initially thought to see a barren area, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all poisoned, states the lead researcher.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Countless of marine animals had established habitats on the weapons, creating a revitalized ecosystem denser than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was evidence to the tenacity of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much life we find in places that are supposed to be toxic and dangerous, he explains.

In excess of 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were residing on steel casings, ignition chambers and storage boxes just a short distance from its dangerous content. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were dwelling on every square metre of the explosives, experts reported in their study on the finding. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are intended to kill all life are drawing so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, life returns to the most risky locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Man-made features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer replacements, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This research reveals that munitions could be comparably beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of individuals loaded them in boats; a portion were deposited in allocated sites, others just dumped while traveling. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the United States, decommissioned oil and gas structures have transformed 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 home to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are typically containing weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently documented, partially because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the reality that documents are hidden in old files. They create an detonation and safety hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states begin extracting these remains, experts aim to safeguard the marine communities that have established in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being extracted.

We should replace these steel remains remaining from munitions with certain less dangerous, some harmless structures, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a model for replacing material after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most damaging explosives can become foundation for new life.