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

In the brackish sea off the Germany's coast rests a collection of World War II explosives, torpedoes and mines. Dumped from boats at the conclusion of the World War II and neglected, thousands explosives have accumulated over the decades. They create a decaying blanket on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the wartime weapons was overlooked and neglected. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions eroded.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, says the lead researcher.

When the team went searching to see what they were doing to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his scientists reacting with shock when the underwater vehicle first transmitted footage. This was a great moment, he notes.

Thousands of sea creatures had made their homes among the explosives, creating a revitalized marine community richer than the sea floor nearby.

This ocean community was testament to the resilience of life. Truly surprising how much life we find in areas that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one exposed fragment of TNT. They were residing on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the abundance of creatures that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Population Density

An average of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, researchers reported in their research on the finding. The adjacent region was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that things that are designed to kill everything are drawing so much marine organisms, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in some way, marine life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Man-made constructions such as shipwrecks, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can offer alternatives, restoring some of the destroyed marine environment. This research demonstrates that weapons could be similarly positive – the bloom of life on those in the Bay of Lübeck is likely to be found in different areas.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6 million tonnes of munitions were discarded off the Germany's shoreline. Thousands of individuals placed them in boats; a portion were placed in specific areas, others just thrown overboard while traveling. This is the first time scientists have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired oil and gas structures have turned into coral reefs
• Submerged vessels from the first world war have become homes for creatures along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in Guam

These areas become even more important for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by commercial fishing, bottom trawling and anchoring. Shipwrecks and explosive disposal locations essentially act as refuges – they are not national parks, but virtually any kind of human activity is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are typically scarce or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are prospering.

Future Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the last century, adjacent waters are usually strewn with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances lie in our oceans.

The positions of these explosives are poorly recorded, partly because of international boundaries, secret armed forces records and the situation that documents are buried in old files. They create an detonation and security danger, as well as risk from the ongoing release of hazardous substances.

As Germany and different states embark on removing these relics, researchers hope to protect the marine communities that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being removed.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with certain more secure, some harmless structures, like perhaps man-made habitats, suggests Vedenin.

He now wishes that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a model for substituting habitats after munitions removal in different areas – because also the most harmful explosives can become foundation for new life.