Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: The Way Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast lies a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off vessels at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, numerous weapons have become matted together over the decades. They comprise a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and forgotten about. A increasing amount of tourists came to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons deteriorated.

We initially expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

When the initial researchers went investigating to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, researchers thought they would find a barren area, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, states the lead researcher.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first sent the images back. That moment was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Countless of sea creatures had settled on the munitions, forming a regenerated ecosystem denser than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was proof to the persistence of marine life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be toxic and risky, he says.

Over 40 starfish had clustered on to one accessible chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. It's similar to a reef ecosystem in terms of the abundance of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were living on every square metre of the explosives, researchers documented in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand organisms on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that things that are meant to kill all life are attracting so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a catastrophic event such as the World War II and how, in some way, marine life finds its way to the most risky places.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer substitutes, restoring some of the lost marine environment. This investigation demonstrates that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of workers loaded them in barges; a portion were dropped in designated locations, the remainder just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time experts have documented how marine life has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired drilling platforms have turned into reef ecosystems
• Submerged vessels from the World War I have become habitats for wildlife along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Therefore a many of species that are usually uncommon or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Coming Issues

Wherever military conflict has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are usually containing weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of volatile compounds lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are inadequately mapped, in part because of sovereign limits, secret military information and the fact that records are buried in historic archives. They present an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states start extracting these artifacts, researchers aim to safeguard the ecosystems that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are already being extracted.

We should substitute these steel remains left from munitions with certain less dangerous, some non-dangerous materials, like possibly artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He presently hopes that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most harmful weaponry can become framework for new life.