Carbon steel plates were exposed during twelve months to the marine tropical atmosphere of Campeche located at the Southeast of The Gulf of Mexico. The corrosion products of steel were analyzed monthly employing scanning electron microscopy aided with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM - EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Also on a monthly basis the main meteorological parameters and the NaCl and SO2 deposition rates were recorded. The FTIR and SEM - EDS morphology, compound and composition studies indicated that amorphous oxyhydroxide and then Iepidocrocite were formed during the first months of exposure. From five to nine months when relative humidity
mean value was 75 %, goethite was clearly detected. Filaments, channels and other unusual inorganic morphologies were observed at the steel samples surfaces having spots of high carbon contents, around 65 wt. % by SEM - EDS analysis and FTIR C-O bondings typical of
organic material. These corrosion products could be associated to microbially induced corrosion activity.
Key words: atmospheric corrosion, Gulf of Mexico, tropical marine environment, steel, oxyhydroxide, Iepidocrocite, goethite, microbially induced corrosion.