Microbiologically-Influenced Corrosion of Submerged World War II Plane Wrecks: Case Studies from Hawaiʻi

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Methods for Monitoring Heritage at Risk Sites in a Rapidly Changing Environment", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archaeologists have increasingly examined the natural forces that threaten submerged cultural heritage resources. For metallic sites, such as sunken steamships and aircraft, corrosion has garnered a considerable amount of this interest. While general corrosion resulting from exposure to seawater is often the focus, recent research has been dedicated to understanding how colonizing microorganisms affect the corrosion of iron shipwreck sites. This paper applies the same effort to submerged aluminum plane wrecks and will discuss the results of a microbiological survey conducted on sunken World War II aircraft in Hawaiʻi. Environmental samples were subjected to DNA sequencing in hopes of establishing the taxonomic composition of each site’s microbiome. The findings of this foundational study can be used to understand the potential for microbiologically-influenced corrosion, while providing a baseline for future studies. The latter’s importance will increase as researchers monitor how a warmer, more acidic ocean impacts wreck microbiomes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Methods for Monitoring Heritage at Risk Sites in a Rapidly Changing Environment   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow