Blood Falls is a red stream flowing from the Taylor Glacier in the Dry Valleys in East Antarctica.
A unique natural phenomenon was discovered in 1911 by Australian geologist Griffith Taylor. Initially, researchers assumed that algae gave this color to the water, but later it turned out that the blood-red hue is a consequence of the high content of iron oxide.
Another interesting property of the "Blood Falls" is its salinity, which exceeds that in the ocean by 4 times. This keeps the water from freezing even at -10 ° C, but at lower temperatures frost still prevails.
The stream originates in a lake hidden under ice. Both color and salinity are the work of underground microorganisms that, in the absence of sunlight, support their existence by complex chemical processes. This closed reservoir has created an ecosystem of microorganisms that are over 1.5 million years old!
This finding suggests that under the ice of Antarctica many amazing mysteries are hidden, and that the ice cover of other planets may also conceal life that is unusual for us.
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