The Titanic will be 'eaten clean' by bacteria

A rust-eating bacteria is slowly digesting 50,000 tons of iron from the Titanic wreck at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Titanic wreck photographed in August 2010. Photo: AP.

A bacterium called Halomonas titanicae would completely decompose the Titanic wreck, according to Drs Henrietta Mann and Bhavleen Kaur of Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

In a 2011 study published in the international journal Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, the team used DNA technology to identify bacteria found in rusted iron lumps on the Titanic in 1991, according to News.com.au. They said the broken wreckage will be nothing more than a giant rusted iron streak on the seabed within 15 years.

Dr. Mann and his colleagues began studying the bacteria in 1995, after DNA technology was developed and widely used. Rusticles, the dark orange, spongy icicle-like structures that formed on the rusted iron covering the bow of the Titanic, were home to many bacterial colonies. After identifying 27 strains of bacteria, the researchers isolated Halomonas titanicae and found that it broke down rusticles into a fine powder in seawater.

"The rusticle on the Titanic is made up of a mix of different bacteria, of which we found one that particularly likes to eat iron, helping to decompose the wreck," said Dr Mann.

The Titanic sank 3,800 meters below the surface of the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg in 1912. However, the wreck was not discovered until 1985. Preservation of the wreck was considered impossible due to its location.

According to VNE