Nazi Explosives, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Marine Life Thrives on Discarded Weapons

In the brackish sea off the German shoreline rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Dumped from boats at the end of the second world war and left behind, numerous weapons have fused into clusters over the decades. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, silty seafloor of the Lübeck Bay in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and neglected. A increasing amount of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and calm waters for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the weapons deteriorated.

Some of us expected to see a desert, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, says Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went looking to see what they were doing to the marine environment, researchers anticipated finding a barren area, with no life because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin remembers his colleagues shouting with surprise when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he recalls.

Countless of marine animals had settled amid the munitions, developing a renewed habitat richer than the ocean bottom nearby.

This marine city was evidence to the persistence of life. Truly remarkable how much life we find in locations that are considered hazardous and harmful, he says.

More than 40 starfish had clustered on to one visible chunk of explosive material. They were dwelling on steel casings, fuse pockets and storage boxes just a short distance from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and mussels were all observed on the old munitions. You could compare it with a reef ecosystem in terms of the quantity of fauna that was present, states Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than forty thousand animals were dwelling on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists documented in their research on the finding. The surrounding area was much sparser, with only 8,000 individuals on every square metre.

It is surprising that things that are meant to eliminate everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says Vedenin. One can observe how the natural world adjusts after a devastating occurrence such as the World War II and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most risky areas.

Artificial Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide replacements, compensating for some of the removed habitat. This investigation shows that weapons could be similarly positive – the bloom of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is expected to be repeated in different areas.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of weapons were dumped off the German shoreline. Countless of individuals placed them in boats; some were deposited in designated locations, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time experts have documented how ocean organisms has adapted.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have become coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in the state of Maryland
• Military vehicle parts that have become home to reef-building organisms off Asan beach in Guam

These areas become even more valuable for organisms as the marine environments are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas effectively serve as refuges – they are not national parks, but almost any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of organisms that are typically uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are thriving.

Future Considerations

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the past 100 years, nearby oceans are often littered with weapons, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material remain in our marine environments.

The locations of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, restricted defense data and the fact that documents are stored in old files. They create an explosion and safety hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries begin extracting these remains, experts plan to protect the ecosystems that have formed around them. In the Lübeck Bay munitions are currently being cleared.

We should substitute these steel remains remaining from weapons with some safer, some non-dangerous structures, like perhaps concrete structures, states Vedenin.

He now aspires that what transpires in Lübeck establishes a model for replacing habitats after weapon clearance in other locations – because including the most damaging weaponry can become framework for new life.