Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Prosper on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's coast lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off vessels at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, thousands weapons have accumulated over the decades. They form a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of visitors flocked to the sandy beaches and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Underwater, the munitions eroded.

We initially anticipated to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they found astonished them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first sent the images back. That moment was a great moment, he says.

Thousands of marine animals had established habitats among the weapons, developing a renewed marine community denser than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the resilience of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in locations that are considered dangerous and risky, he says.

More than 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible fragment of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, ignition chambers and carrying containers just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were living on every square metre of the weapons, researchers documented in their study on the discovery. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that things that are designed to eliminate all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. One can observe how nature evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life finds its way to the most risky areas.

Artificial Structures as Marine Environments

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This investigation reveals that explosives could be equally beneficial – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tonnes of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Thousands of workers placed them in barges; a portion were dropped in specific locations, the remainder just discarded at sea while traveling. This is the first time experts have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Adaptation

• In the United States, retired energy installations have become coral reefs
• Shipwrecks from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan beach in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for wildlife as the oceans are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations essentially act as sanctuaries – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are usually scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Future Factors

Anywhere warfare has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are often strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Millions of tons of volatile compounds remain in our oceans.

The positions of these weapons are poorly mapped, partly because of national borders, restricted armed forces records and the situation that documents are hidden in old files. They create an explosion and security hazard, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries embark on extracting these artifacts, scientists aim to preserve the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Bay of Lübeck explosives are currently being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses originating from munitions with some less dangerous, various harmless objects, like possibly man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He presently wishes that what transpires in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for replacing structures after explosive extraction in different areas – because including the most destructive armaments can become scaffolding for marine organisms.