Corrosion of Bare Carbon Steel as a Passive Sensor to Assess Moisture Availability for Biological Activity in Atacama Desert Soils

In this work we suggest the corrosion of polished bared metal coupons as a passive sensor to detect or identify the lower limit of water availability that could be suitable for biological activity in the Atacama Desert on soil or solid substrates. For this purpose, carbon steel coupons were deposite...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 2018-08, Vol.111 (8), p.1293-1299
Main Authors: Caceres, Luis, Davila, Alfonso F., Soliz, Alvaro, Saldivia, Jessica
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric moisture
Bioavailability
Biological activity
Biological evolution
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carbon steel
Carbon steels
Chemistry And Materials (General)
Corrosion
Crystallization
Desert soils
Deserts
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Inspection
Life Sciences
Medical Microbiology
Meteorological parameters
Microbiology
Moisture
Moisture availability
Morphology
Original Paper
Plant Sciences
Soil moisture
Soil Science & Conservation
Soil surfaces
Soil water
Soils
Substrates
Vertical orientation
Water availability
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Summary:In this work we suggest the corrosion of polished bared metal coupons as a passive sensor to detect or identify the lower limit of water availability that could be suitable for biological activity in the Atacama Desert on soil or solid substrates. For this purpose, carbon steel coupons were deposited in selected sites along a west-east transect and removed at predetermined times for morphological inspection. The advantage of this procedure is that the attributes of the oxide layer (corrosion extent, morphology and oxide phases) can be considered as a fingerprint of the atmospheric moisture history at a given time interval. Two types of coupons were used, a long rectangular shape that are half-buried in a vertical position, and square shape that are deposited on the soil surface. The morphological attributes observed by SEM inspection is correlated to the so-called humectation time which is determined from local meteorological parameters. The main result is that the decreasing trend of atmospheric moisture along the transect is closely related to corrosion behavior and water soil penetration. For instance, while in the coastal site oxide phases formed on the coupon surface rapidly evolve to well- crystallized species, in the driest inland site Lomas Bayas only amorphous oxide is observed.
ISSN:0003-6072
1572-9699
DOI:10.1007/s10482-018-1037-5