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The mystery of the red stream in Antarctica solved. Where did the Bloody Waterfall come from?
This natural phenomenon remained a mystery for a century. Now scientists have finally explained why there is water flowing out of the Taylor Glacier, turning red all by itself.
We have known about the existence of this amazing place since 1911. It was then that geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor came across the unusual glacier while exploring the Antarctic. Water flows out of its tongue, which, although colorless at first, quickly turns blood-colored. The red cascade then flows into Lake Boney.
Taylor named the site Blood Falls. It is located in Victoria Land in East Antarctica. Although it was soon guessed that the water from the Taylor Glacier owed its color to the presence of iron, it remained a mystery as to where this element came from and in what form it occurs in the water.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Tennessee say they have learned the answer to these questions. It is a surprising one. According to them, the blood color of water does not come from the minerals in it. Only nanospheres much smaller than red blood cells.
