Unusual Corrosion Found...Any ideas what this is??? 1

[Terry333]

I was doing a survey in an underground hydro power station and had to abseil down into a cavern that nobody had visited in 15 years. there was a walkway with carbon steel safety hand rails that had an unusual form of corrosion attached which i had not come across before. There was a kind of crystallization occurrence with the crystals looking like shell found on a beach and being filled with liquid (presumably water). Can anybody help me with identifying this reaction please??

 

[btrueblood]

Tubercule corrosion, google will lead to to similar pictures. Or read here:

https://www.d.umn.edu/biology/documents/Oster1.pdf

 

[Dhurjati Sen]

Normally this is a feature of cooling / raw water systems (piping internals) due to the presence of iron bacteria. But never ever seen what you saw! Could have been water dripping on the rails for years on end. Thanks for sharing the photos. Very risky to move about on these structures. Take care.

DHURJATI SEN