Long-term corrosion of steels in deep, cold, low oxygen sea waters

Title: Long-term corrosion of steels in deep, cold, low oxygen sea waters
Creator: Melchers, Robert E.
Relation: Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology Vol. 56, Issue 8, p. 736-741
Publisher Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1478422X.2021.1954137
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Resource Type: journal article
Date: 2021
Description: Corrosion of steels in deep, cold, low oxygen sea waters over many decades often is attributed to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). Herein it is argued that the available evidence does not support this proposition since (a) the few available in-situ deep sea field observations are consistent with long-term corrosion under abiotic conditions and (b) independent environmental studies indicate dissolved inorganic nitrogen, a necessary nutrient for MIC, is likely negligible or very low in deep sea waters. On that basis it is proposed that the rusticles observed on some shipwrecks, such as the Titanic, largely are the result of formation of ferrous hydroxides from ferrous ions released, very slowly, from the oxidation of magnetite rusts to maghemite. Direct evidence for this proposition is not available in-situ but is consistent with field observations and laboratory results.
Subject: corrosion; shipwrecks; microbial activity; rusts; oxidation
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1471709
Identifier: uon:48717
Identifier: ISSN:1478-422X
Language: eng
Reviewed