Scientists Finally Solve the Mystery of Antarctica’s Blood Falls

Have you ever thought that there is a waterfall that has a bright red color, which looks like blood is falling? It sounds like fiction, but there is actually a fall like that in Antarctica, named the Blood Falls.

What Is Blood Falls?

Blood Falls is a natural phenomenon located in a Glacier in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys. It is a waterfall where the water literally looks like blood, with a bright red color, previously thought to be caused by a certain algae in the area.

However, newer research has already debunked this theory after nearly a century, where the cause is almost unknown and a mystery to the scientific community.

Source: Business Insider

The Science Behind the Red Color

Scientists Finally Solved the Blood Falls Mystery

Scientists previously thought that the red coloration and that water flows down a very cold, icy glacier was because of red algae; however, the real reason is the iron-rich, salty water coming from a subglacial lake over a million years old.

Basically, the cause is iron oxide. If the iron-rich saltwater comes into contact with the oxygen at the surface, the water oxidizes, creating that rust-like color, which also looks red in some angles, depending on the sun’s light rays.

Source: Wired

Uncovering the Source: Ancient Subglacial Brine

Researchers found that the subglacial brine coming out of the blood falls is about a million years old, and that it was trapped under the Taylor Glacier. Subglacial Brine refers to saltwater found below the ice glaciers and thick ice sheets.

You are probably wondering how this much water is coming out of the falls despite it being in a very cold environment where everything freezes. The answer is simple: the high salinity of the water lowers its freezing point below that of normal water, which is usually about 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Salinity refers to the amount of dissolved salt in the water; the higher it is, the lower the temperature needed to freeze the water. So, along with its movement and the salinity, the water in the bloodfalls remains liquid despite the surrounding ice and freezing temperatures.

Source: University of Alaska Fairbanks

Life in Extreme Conditions

Mystery of Antarctica's Blood Falls finally solved HD

Another fun fact is that there are living microorganisms in that glacier that was trapped for millions of years, and that they have survived one of the harshest environments on the planet.

The subglacial lake beneath the ice glacier hosts a unique ecosystem where the organisms live without oxygen, in complete darkness, and with extreme salinity.

If they were able to survive in those conditions, this gives us important knowledge that some of the previously thought uninhabitable planets, because of their freezing temperature and lack of sunlight, just like this subglacial lake, might also have the capacity to host life.

Some examples are the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa or Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Those have the same conditions as the subglacial lake in the Blood Falls, which is still brimming with life.

Source: CNTraveler

Author's Final Thoughts

The resolution to the 100-year-old mystery of the bloodfalls not only gave us an explanation for this specific phenomenon but also provided the scientific community with insights and the example of how life can persist even in the harshest environment in the universe.

Where the temperature is at freezing point, where the water is filled with dissolved salt, and where the rays of sunlight can’t reach. If these microorganisms can survive there, then what about in other parts of the galaxy?

Read more: Scientists Discover ‘Yellow Brick Road’ Deep Beneath the Pacific Ocean

Disclaimer: All images used in this article are artistic depictions meant to help readers visualize events. They are not real photos of the individuals, animals, or things involved.