Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's coast lies a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Discarded from barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, countless explosives have fused into clusters over the decades. They create a rusting layer on the low-depth, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the years, the explosive stockpile was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists traveled to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kite surfing and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the munitions decayed.

Some of us anticipated to see a barren area, with nothing living there because it was all poisoned, explains Andrey Vedenin.

When the team went investigating to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a desert, with no life because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they observed astonished them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the ROV first sent the images back. This was a great moment, he says.

Thousands of ocean life had made their homes on the explosives, developing a renewed habitat richer than the seabed around it.

This marine city was proof to the tenacity of life. Truly remarkable how much marine organisms we find in locations that are supposed to be hazardous and risky, he states.

Over 40 starfish had gathered on to one accessible piece of explosive material. They were dwelling on iron containers, detonator compartments and carrying containers just a short distance from its volatile core. Fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all discovered on the discarded explosives. You could compare it with a coral reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was present, says Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An mean of more than 40,000 creatures were dwelling on every meter squared of the munitions, experts wrote in their research on the observation. The nearby seabed was much less diverse, with only 8,000 creatures on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that objects that are designed to eliminate everything are attracting so much marine organisms, says 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 finds its way to the most dangerous areas.

Artificial Structures as Ocean Environments

Artificial structures such as sunken vessels, offshore windfarms, drilling platforms and undersea pipes can provide substitutes, restoring some of the removed habitat. This research demonstrates that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be repeated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and 1948, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the Germany's coast. Thousands of workers transported them in boats; some were placed in specific areas, others just dumped while traveling. This is the first time researchers have studied how marine life has adapted.

Global Instances of Marine Adaptation

• In the US, retired energy installations have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become habitats for marine life along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become home to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These places become even more important for marine life as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, seafloor dredging and anchoring. Sunken ships and explosive disposal locations practically serve as sanctuaries – they are not official reserves, but nearly any kind of human activity is prohibited, states Vedenin. As a result a many of species that are otherwise uncommon or diminishing, such as the Baltic cod, are flourishing.

Future Considerations

Wherever military conflict has happened in the last century, surrounding seas are often strewn with explosives, states Vedenin. Many millions of tonnes of explosive material lie in our seas.

The locations of these explosives are insufficiently documented, partially because of sovereign limits, restricted armed forces records and the reality that records are stored in old files. They create an detonation and safety danger, as well as threat from the ongoing emission of poisonous compounds.

As Germany and different states embark on extracting these artifacts, scientists plan to protect the marine communities that have developed around them. In the Bay of Lübeck munitions are presently being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these iron structures originating from munitions with some safer, some harmless materials, like maybe artificial reefs, says Vedenin.

He now aspires that what occurs in the Bay of Lübeck creates a precedent for replacing structures after munitions removal in other locations – because including the most harmful explosives can become framework for new life.