In the largest desert in the world sits a peculiar sight. Contrasting against the pure white snow, people have sighted what can only be described as a cascade of red. In Antarctica’s Taylor Valley, there’s a “waterfall” called Blood Falls. The name is because of the crimson color the water takes on.
The Discovery
Blood Falls isn’t a recent discovery. It was first stumbled across over a hundred years ago in 1911. Scientists have been studying the falls for ages, and there are implications that the Blood Falls has created and is part of a living and thriving system.
Griffith Taylor
Griffith Taylor was a world-renowned explorer who dedicated much of his life to uncovering the secrets of Antarctica. He was the first explorer to discover the peculiar Blood Falls, which has since fueled incredible research to give us a deeper understanding of the strange phenomena occurring there.
Testing The Water
Researchers have tested water runoff from the glacier where Blood Falls resides, and it has the expected readings for salt. However, they tested the salinity of the falls themselves and noted that it was around three times saltier than seawater. That brought them to the conclusion that there has to be an underground source hidden inside the glacier that also housed life.
Inside The Water
Inside of the water at Blood Falls are millions of microorganisms. They call the dark, salty water home and thrive without any sunlight or oxygen. They use chemosynthesis to get their energy, which is using chemical reactions where otherwise no other source of energy exists.
Perfect E.T. Analog
The conditions of the Blood Falls are startlingly similar to those of other places in the solar system, specifically Europa and Enceladus, the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. This means that the microorganisms found there may be the perfect analog to study to get a deeper understanding of what extraterrestrial life may be on other planets.
A Unique and “Living” Thing
Blood Falls is a unique micro-environment and a “living” system. Blood Falls feeds chemicals like sulfate and iron to the microrganisms living there so they can achieve chemosynthesis. This means there is a fully contained ecosystem trapped deep within the glacier.
A Responsive System
The way that Blood Falls periodically discharges the red water means that there are environmental factors at play that cause this, even if they are still largely unknown. The release of water may not be random and could be a responsive system acting on glacial pressure or even subglacial shifts. Even the microorganisms themselves could have a role to play in the way the system works.
Not a True Waterfall
Despite the name and look of Blood Falls, it isn’t a waterfall, at least in the traditional sense. The water doesn’t freeze from its underground source due to the high salt content. Periodically, the water will come out from the source and flow as many have seen it in pictures. It is still a mystery as to why it only periodically flows.
The True Source
After extensive study, the source of Blood Falls was found to be a reservoir around 1300 feet underneath the glacier. Researchers still aren’t sure just how big the “heart” of Blood Falls is, but they believe the seawater underneath is ancient and became trapped underneath the glacier.
Trapped For Millenia
The reservoir predates the glacier over it and was trapped beneath when rising sea levels meant that it was flooded and then frozen over. The water that you see reaching Blood Falls has taken over a million years just to get there from the reservoir.
Why Is It Red?
The first question on many people’s minds may be why the water at Blood Falls is a deep crimson and looks strikingly similar to blood. The process that turns the water red is startingly similar to why are blood is red. When the iron-rich water reaches the surface, it oxidizes, turning it a deep red color just like our blood.
Future Research
With not much known about Blood Falls, there is huge potential for future research that may give us insight into Earth’s past. Future studies on the geochemistry and more micro-activity of the system could offer more context into Earth’s early oceans and how life evolves in such extreme conditions.
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