The world’s coldest place, Antarctica has the Blood Falls. The outflow from the Taylor Glacier can found in East Antarctica.
The blood color falls were first discovered in Antarctica in 1911. The Australian geologist Griffith Taylor was noticed a river with a deep red color. Primarily he thought that algae is responsible for discoloring the water but that was not verified. The mystery of the blood fall was existed for long time.
Not the color but also the water flows in such a cold temperature has long been a mystery. As the mean temperature in Antarctica is 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-17 degrees Celsius) where little glacial melting happens at the surface.
Recently a research by the University of Alaska Fairbanks has solved the mystery. The Blood Falls’s deep red coloring happens due to oxidized iron in brine saltwater. When the iron containing saltwater comes into contact with oxygen then the iron oxidizes and turn into red coloring. For this reason the Blood Falls water is deep red in color.
Where couple of factors allow the water to remain as a liquid. The brine saltwater remains liquid within the environments by releasing of latent heat which melts the ice.
Also the water high saltwater has a lower freezing point than fresh water. Another reason is the high pressures at the base of the glacier which have small impact to reduce the temperature at which water freezes.
Amazingly, the Blood Falls also contains microbes which can survive in extreme conditions.
