Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, countless explosives have become matted together over the years. They comprise a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and neglected. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons eroded.

Some of us expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

When the first scientists went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains a scientist.

What they observed surprised them. Vedenin recalls his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first transmitted footage. This was a remarkable experience, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled among the munitions, forming a renewed habitat more populous than the seabed nearby.

This ocean community was proof to the persistence of life. Indeed surprising how much life we discover in places that are expected to be hazardous and harmful, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible piece of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, detonator compartments and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, sea anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was inhabiting the area, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the munitions, experts documented in their paper on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is ironic that things that are meant to kill all life are drawing so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. It's evident how nature evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, life returns to the most dangerous locations.

Man-made Features as Marine Environments

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can create substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This investigation reveals that weapons could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Countless of people placed them in barges; some were dropped in allocated locations, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time experts have documented how ocean organisms has reacted.

Worldwide Instances of Ocean Transformation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. Therefore a lot of species that are otherwise scarce or declining, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Coming Issues

Wherever military conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are typically strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our seas.

The locations of these weapons are inadequately recorded, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted military information and the reality that records are stored in historic archives. They pose an detonation and safety hazard, as well as risk from the ongoing release of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and different states begin extracting these artifacts, researchers hope to preserve the habitats that have established nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are currently being removed.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures remaining from weapons with some more secure, some safe structures, like possibly artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a example for replacing material after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most destructive weaponry can become scaffolding for new life.