rusticle

An icicle-shaped rust formation, formed on shipwrecks etc. by underwater microbes that consume iron.

Noun

  1. An icicle-shaped rust formation, formed on shipwrecks etc. by underwater microbes that consume iron.

Origin

Blend of rust + icicle, coined by Robert Ballard, who first observed them on the wreck of the Titanic in 1986.

Forms

rusticles