Nazi Munitions, Torpedo Heads and Naval Mines: The Way Marine Life Flourishes on Dumped Weapons

In the slightly salty waters off the German shoreline lies a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and naval mines. Discarded from boats at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, numerous weapons have become matted together over the years. They comprise a rusting layer on the shallow, silty ocean floor of the Lübeck Bay in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.

Some of us thought to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all toxic, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the first scientists went investigating to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, states a scientist.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin remembers his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a great moment, he recalls.

Thousands of sea creatures had settled among the munitions, creating a revitalized habitat more populous than the sea floor nearby.

This marine city was proof to the tenacity of life. Truly surprising how much life we find in areas that are expected to be hazardous and risky, he states.

Over 40 starfish had piled on to one exposed chunk of explosive material. They were living on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crabs, anemones and mussels were all observed on the historic weapons. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, notes Vedenin.

Surprising Population Density

An average of more than 40,000 creatures were living on every meter squared of the weapons, experts documented in their study on the discovery. The adjacent region was much poorer in life, with only eight thousand creatures on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world evolves after a catastrophic event such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Man-made structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, oil rigs and undersea pipes can provide alternatives, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This study reveals that munitions could be equally advantageous – the proliferation of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the German coast. Thousands of workers placed them in barges; some were placed in specific areas, the remainder just discarded at sea during transport. This is the first time experts have studied how marine life has responded.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned energy installations have turned into reef ecosystems
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become environment to coral off Asan beach in Guam

These places become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly denuded by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and weapons dump sites practically function as protected areas – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, explains Vedenin. Consequently a many of organisms that are otherwise rare or decreasing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Coming Factors

Anywhere military conflict has occurred in the recent history, adjacent waters are often strewn with munitions, says Vedenin. Many millions of tons of explosive material rest in our marine environments.

The sites of these munitions are poorly documented, partly because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the reality that archives are hidden in old files. They create an detonation and safety risk, as well as risk from the continuous leakage of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states begin removing these artifacts, scientists hope to safeguard the marine communities that have formed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being cleared.

Researchers recommend substitute these iron structures left from weapons with some safer, various safe materials, like possibly man-made habitats, states Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck establishes a precedent for substituting structures after weapon clearance in different areas – because including the most destructive explosives can become framework for ocean ecosystems.