Quote: I am very curious as to how the rust/mud got on TOP of the car. The water in there must have been turbulent to lift the rust from below to above so it could settle on the car. If it was calm/motionless water, you would think the sediment and rust would all be at the bottom of the vault. If water was rushing in from above, that could explain how mud settled on top I guess.
Any theories?
I believe that the water intrusion was both gentle seepage (porosity of the concrete / small cracks near the bottom) that did not stir up the water a bunch AND somewhat larger flows, including cracks above the vault's current waterline and failure between the lid and the sides which had water in some volume cascading into the standing water and stirring it up. Yes, there's rust, but the red is red mud which is red dirt which is Oklahoma dirt which is found in Tulsa (go figure).
Both the presence of the mud and it's location are indicators that the water intrusion was more than slight, slow seepage.
