Antarctica's 'Blood Falls': Scientists Unravel 1.5 Million-Year-Old Red Ice Mystery

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News18•28-01-2026, 16:07
Antarctica's 'Blood Falls': Scientists Unravel 1.5 Million-Year-Old Red Ice Mystery
- •Antarctica's Taylor Glacier features 'Blood Falls,' a phenomenon where red liquid appears to flow from the ice.
- •First discovered in 1911 in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, the red flow puzzled scientists for decades.
- •The mystery was recently solved by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, revealing the red color is due to continuous oxidation.
- •The glacier contains salty water with high iron content, trapped in a closed lake with minimal sunlight and oxygen.
- •This natural process, ongoing for about 1.5 million years, creates the blood-like appearance, not actual blood or red ice.
Why It Matters: Antarctica's 'Blood Falls' is a natural phenomenon caused by iron-rich, salty water oxidizing over 1.5 million years.
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