The Titanic will be

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

Titanic wreck taken in August 2010.(Photo: AP).

The bacterium named Halomonas titanicae will completely destroy the wreck of the Titanic, according to Dr. Henrietta Mann and Bhavleen Kaur at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

In a study published in 2011 in the international journal Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, the team used DNA technology to identify bacteria found in rust-iron lumps on the Titanic in 1991, according to News.com.au. They assumed that the wrecked part of the wreck would only be a giant stain of iron under the seabed within 15 years.

Dr. Mann and his colleagues began studying the bacterial group in 1995, after DNA technology was developed and widely used. The rusticle, a texture similar to the dark orange foam band formed on a rusty iron shell covering the bow of Titanic is home to many bacterial populations. After identifying 27 strains of bacteria, the researchers isolated Halomonas titanicae and found that it decomposes rusticle into a fine powder in seawater.

" The rusticle on the Titanic is made up of a combination of various bacteria, in which we find a special type that likes to eat iron, helps decompose wrecks," Dr. Mann said.

The Titanic sank at a depth of 3,800 meters below the North Atlantic surface after crashing into an iceberg in 1912. However, it was not until 1985 that the wreck was discovered. Preserving the wreck is thought to be impossible due to its deep location.