Mystery of Blood Falls, Antarctica
Blood fall of Antarctica located in McMurdo dry valley.
The fall had discovered in 1911 by explorers when it poured off a cliff in the Great Taylor glacier.
The red color of the water is attributed to discoloration caused by red algae.
But there is nothing prove yet.
Blood falls, named for its ruddy color, is not, in fact, a gush of blood from some unseen wound.
A new study in a journal of glaciology has uncovered its true origin using radar to scan the layer of ice from which the river pours.
The deep red coloring is due to oxidized iron in brine saltwater, the same process that gives iron dark red color when it rusts.
When iron bearing saltwater comes into contact with oxidized and takes on a red coloring, in effect dying the water to a deep red color.
It was found that the brine, which was from a lake that flow underneath Taylor glacier takes 1.5 million years to finally reaching the blood falls.
The brine is discovered to have picked up mineral from underlying hard bedrocks and gushes forth off the surface of the glacier through the fissure.
The fall had discovered in 1911 by explorers when it poured off a cliff in the Great Taylor glacier.
The red color of the water is attributed to discoloration caused by red algae.
But there is nothing prove yet.
Blood falls, named for its ruddy color, is not, in fact, a gush of blood from some unseen wound.
A new study in a journal of glaciology has uncovered its true origin using radar to scan the layer of ice from which the river pours.
The deep red coloring is due to oxidized iron in brine saltwater, the same process that gives iron dark red color when it rusts.
When iron bearing saltwater comes into contact with oxidized and takes on a red coloring, in effect dying the water to a deep red color.
It was found that the brine, which was from a lake that flow underneath Taylor glacier takes 1.5 million years to finally reaching the blood falls.
The brine is discovered to have picked up mineral from underlying hard bedrocks and gushes forth off the surface of the glacier through the fissure.
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