Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and naval mines. Dumped from vessels at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, thousands weapons have fused into clusters over the years. They create a decaying layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

We initially expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers expected to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered surprised them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the ROV first relayed pictures. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Countless of ocean life had settled on the munitions, forming a revitalized marine community more populous than the seabed around it.

This ocean community was testament to the persistence of life. It is actually astonishing how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one visible fragment of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, detonator compartments and storage boxes just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and bivalves were all observed on the historic weapons. It's similar to a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Surprising Creature Concentration

An average of more than forty thousand organisms were living on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers documented in their paper on the discovery. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are designed to kill everything are attracting so much life, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a devastating occurrence such as the second world war and how, in some way, life establishes itself to the most hazardous places.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made features such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can create alternatives, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This study shows that explosives could be similarly beneficial – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6m tons of munitions were disposed of off the German coast. Countless of individuals transported them in vessels; a portion were placed in allocated areas, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the initial instance experts have documented how marine life has adapted.

Worldwide Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have become coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to reef-building organisms off Asan in Guam

These places become even more crucial for organisms as the oceans are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and munitions areas effectively function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a numerous of organisms that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are prospering.

Future Issues

Anywhere warfare has occurred in the past 100 years, adjacent waters are often littered with weapons, explains Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The locations of these weapons are poorly documented, partly because of sovereign limits, secret defense data and the situation that archives are hidden in old files. They present an explosion and safety danger, as well as risk from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As the German government and other countries begin clearing these relics, scientists hope to safeguard the habitats that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being cleared.

We should replace these iron structures originating from munitions with certain less dangerous, some harmless objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing structures after munitions removal elsewhere – because also the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for new life.