Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Bloody Waterfall


 

 
 
 
 
Beautiful bloody colored waterfall in Antartica :).  Blood Waterfall flows out of Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valley.  It was discovered in 1911 by some brave geologists.  Initially it was believed the red color was a result of algae, but they were wrong. It is an outflow of an iron oxide tainted plume of salt water.. but there's more! keep reading...... Chemical and microbial analyses of the water indicate a rare subglacial ecosystem of autotrophic bacteria (17 different types) that metabolizes sulfate and ferric ions. These microbes were trapped below the layer ice in a small body of water over two million years ago! (ocean water with very high salinity). These little guys lived without light, with little heat and without oxygen.  They evolved independently without outside world influences.   It is virtually a primordial ooze (such as the soup).


 
not a very helpful map :)




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