Rusticle

<h2 id="composition">Composition</h2>
<p>The rusticle consists of up to 35% iron compounds including <a href="/facts/Iron_oxide/KDo8hLWn">iron oxides</a>, <a href="/facts/Iron_carbonate/RopB9m0u">iron carbonates</a>, and <a href="/facts/Iron_hydroxide/KDo8hLWn">iron hydroxides</a>. Rusticles are found in a tube shapes of iron oxides which are vertical to one another. Rusticles are found to grow at approximately 1 cm (0.39 in) a year and are most often found in areas of sunken hulls underwater.
</p><p>The remainder of the structure is a complex community of symbiotic or mutualistic microbes including bacteria <i>Halomonas titanicae</i> and fungi that use the rusting metal as a source of food, causing microbial corrosion and collectively producing the mineral compounds that form the rusticle as waste products.
</p><p>Rusticles have been found to most often be composed of iron, calcium, chloride, magnesium, silica, sodium, and sulfate while there are other chemical compositions of rusticles but in much smaller quantities.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="structure">Structure</h2>
<p>Structurally, rusticles contain channels which allow water to flow through, and they seem to build up in a ring structure similar to the growth rings of a <a href="/facts/Tree/3q0G4cbP">tree</a>. They are very delicate and can easily disintegrate into fine powder on even the slightest touch.
</p>
<h2 id="colours">Colours</h2>
<p>The outer surface of a rusticle is smooth red in appearance from the <a href="/facts/Iron(III)_oxide/vam0XoC5">iron(III) oxide</a>, while the core is bright orange due to the presence of crystals of <a href="/facts/Goethite/6uHDbPae">goethite</a>. There are several morphologies of the rusticle, some of which are conical, cylindrical, and rusticle on the seafloor.
</p>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter". Retrieved February 16, 2024. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/show/uss-indianapolis/" target="_blank">https://www.pbs.org/show/uss-indianapolis/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"New species of bacteria found in Titanic 'rusticles'". BBC News. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2012. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11926932" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11926932</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Titanic being dissolved by newly ID'd bacteria". CBC News. December 6, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2022. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/titanic-being-dissolved-by-newly-id-d-bacteria-1.882011" target="_blank">https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/titanic-being-dissolved-by-newly-id-d-bacteria-1.882011</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Microbiologically influenced corrosion of Gulf of Mexico mooring chain at 6,000 feet depths". Archived from the original on 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2013-02-14. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161006100634/http://www.intermoor.com/information-center-23/technical-articles-26/omae-2012-84067-microbiologically-influenced-corrosion-of-gulf-of-mexico-mooring-chain-at-6-000-feet-depths-317" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20161006100634/http://www.intermoor.com/information-center-23/technical-articles-26/omae-2012-84067-microbiologically-influenced-corrosion-of-gulf-of-mexico-mooring-chain-at-6-000-feet-depths-317</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"Microbiologically influenced corrosion of Gulf of Mexico mooring chain at 6,000 feet depths". Archived from the original on 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2013-02-14. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161006100634/http://www.intermoor.com/information-center-23/technical-articles-26/omae-2012-84067-microbiologically-influenced-corrosion-of-gulf-of-mexico-mooring-chain-at-6-000-feet-depths-317" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20161006100634/http://www.intermoor.com/information-center-23/technical-articles-26/omae-2012-84067-microbiologically-influenced-corrosion-of-gulf-of-mexico-mooring-chain-at-6-000-feet-depths-317</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Silva-Bedoya, Lina (5 January 2021). "Deep-sea corrosion rusticles from iron-hulled shipwrecks". Wiley. <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Rusticle open-in-new

Rusticle