Nazi Bombs, Torpedoes and Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Armaments

In the slightly salty waters off the Germany's shoreline rests a wasteland of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from vessels at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands munitions have accumulated over the decades. They create a corroding layer on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for water sports, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the munitions decayed.

Some of us expected to see a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, some of us anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, says the lead researcher.

What they found surprised them. Vedenin recalls his scientists exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes amid the explosives, forming a renewed ecosystem more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This ocean community was testament to the resilience of life. Indeed astonishing how much marine organisms we observe in places that are supposed to be toxic and risky, he explains.

More than 40 sea stars had piled on to one exposed chunk of TNT. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of creatures that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than forty thousand creatures were residing on every meter squared of the explosives, experts reported in their paper on the observation. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only 8,000 creatures on every square metre.

It is surprising that items that are designed to destroy all life are drawing so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life establishes itself to the most dangerous areas.

Man-made Structures as Ocean Habitats

Man-made constructions such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer replacements, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This research demonstrates that explosives could be similarly positive – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is expected to be repeated elsewhere.

Between 1946 and the post-war period, 1.6 million tonnes of arms were dumped off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of individuals loaded them in boats; some were deposited in allocated sites, others just discarded at sea en route. This is the first time experts have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Transformation

• In the United States, retired oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels 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 environment to coral off Asan in Guam

These locations become even more important for wildlife as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites effectively act as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but almost any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. Therefore a numerous of marine species that are otherwise uncommon or declining, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Wherever armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are typically containing munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances rest in our seas.

The sites of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, partly because of international boundaries, classified armed forces records and the situation that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent emission of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these remains, experts hope to safeguard the ecosystems that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being cleared.

It would be wise to replace these iron structures originating from munitions with some safer, some non-dangerous structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently aspires that what occurs in Lübeck establishes a example for substituting material after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most damaging weaponry can become framework for new life.