An international team of scientists has figured out why the water from the so-called Blood Falls, which flows from the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica, has a red hue. The results of the research were published in a scientific journal. limits.
During the study, scientists led by Ken Leavey of the Johns Hopkins Center for Materials Characterization and Processing studied the composition of water in detail. They found nanospheres with a high concentration of iron, which gives the water a rusty hue. These tiny nanospheres have unique physical and chemical properties. When they are oxidized, they take on a red color.
“As soon as I looked at the sample under the microscope, I realized that these were tiny nanospheres and rich in iron and other elements like silicon, calcium, aluminum, sodium,” explained Ken Levy.
Known for its rich red color, iron oxide was formerly thought to be the main frying agent in water.
“To be a mineral, the atoms have to be arranged in a very specific crystal structure. These nanospheres are not crystalline, so methods previously used to study solids have not detected them,” Leavy explained.
Scientists have discovered that the red water from Bloody Falls originates from a salt lake that has been frozen in ice for 1.5 to 4 million years. In reality, this lake is part of an underground system of hypersaline lakes and aquifers.
Blood Falls was discovered by Australian geologist Griffith Taylor in 1911 in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of East Antarctica.
ancient scientists saidhow melting glaciers accelerate warming through methane emissions.