Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion of World War II Aircraft Wrecks in the Pacific

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Aircraft were a major component of the U.S. war effort in World War II, and today numerous examples can be found throughout the waters of the Asia-Pacific region. Due to their cultural and historical significance to modern stakeholders, understanding the decay trajectories has become an important issue in the realm of cultural heritage management, especially in light of efforts to establish sustainable coastal zones. While the majority of corrosion studies have focused on electrochemical exchanges at the seawater-metal interface, far less attention has been paid to the effects of colonizing microorganisms that can contribute to increased rates of corrosion through processes of microbiologically-influenced corrosion (MIC). To rectify this, several WWII aircraft wrecks in the Pacific were chosen as case studies. The objective is to collect samples of biofilm, which contain complex microbial communities, directly from these sites for the purposes of DNA sequencing. The results would be the first time that researchers have conclusively determined the makeup of the microbial communities found on the surface of a submerged aircraft wreck. Armed with this data, taxa-specific mitigation efforts can finally be considered. Furthermore, the results of this study would serve as a baseline and blueprint for future research.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32693