Microbial Influenced Corrosion on Accomac (1928-c.1973), A Freshwater, Ferrous-Hulled Shipwreck: Evaluation of Microbial Diversity and Composition in Mallows Bay, MD

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Abandoned shipwrecks are sitting at the bottom of oceans and lakes around the world. Over time, microbial-comprised biofilms, can help protect wrecks again chemical corrosion and deterioration or contribute to their deterioration through microbially-influenced corrosion organisms. Identifying and understanding the community composition of these biofilms will give us a better understanding of the role these microbes play in microbial-influenced corrosion (MIC) of these structures. Here, we determine if microbial community composition differ based on the environment across a shallow freshwater steel-hulled shipwreck, Accomac (1928-c.1973), located in Mallows Bay, Maryland by sequencing various samples collected. Results suggest there was a statistically significant difference between the sample types indicating the environment around Accomac influences the composition of the microbial communities. These results also indicate corrosion-causing taxa within the shallow freshwater wreck site, which may lead to variation in how microbes may contribute to protection or deterioration of these ferrous-hulled wrecks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow