Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline rests a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and left behind, thousands munitions have fused into clusters over the years. They comprise 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 neglected. A increasing amount of tourists came to the sandy beaches and calm waters for water sports, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

We initially expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers anticipated finding a desert, with nothing living there because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered astonished them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first sent the images back. That moment was a remarkable experience, he recalls.

Numerous of sea creatures had settled among the munitions, forming a revitalized marine community more populous than the seabed surrounding it.

This marine city was testament to the persistence of life. Indeed astonishing how much life we discover in locations that are supposed to be toxic and dangerous, he says.

In excess of 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible chunk of TNT. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and carrying containers just a short distance from its explosive filling. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. You could compare it with a marine reef in terms of the amount of fauna that was there, states Vedenin.

Unexpected Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, experts reported in their paper on the finding. The adjacent region was much sparser, with only eight thousand creatures on every square metre.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to destroy all life are attracting so much life, says Vedenin. One can observe how nature adapts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life establishes itself to the most dangerous locations.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, oil rigs and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, compensating for some of the lost marine environment. This study demonstrates that weapons could be similarly advantageous – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of arms were dumped off the German coast. Countless of people transported them in boats; a portion were dropped in specific locations, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time researchers have documented how ocean organisms has responded.

Global Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have transformed into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for creatures along the Potomac in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These locations become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly depleted by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically serve as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, explains Vedenin. Consequently a numerous of marine species that are usually rare or diminishing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the past 100 years, surrounding seas are often strewn with munitions, explains Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of volatile compounds rest in our marine environments.

The locations of these munitions are insufficiently mapped, in part because of national borders, secret military information and the reality that documents are stored in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety risk, as well as danger from the persistent leakage of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and additional nations start clearing these relics, researchers aim to protect the marine communities that have formed nearby. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are already being cleared.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses remaining from weapons with some less dangerous, some harmless objects, like possibly concrete structures, suggests Vedenin.

He currently wishes that what transpires in Lübeck creates a model for replacing habitats after munitions removal in other locations – because even the most damaging armaments can become foundation for marine organisms.