More than a century ago, geoscientist Griffith Taylor made an extraordinary finding while exploring Antarctica—an exceptional waterfall. Scientists have proposed numerous theories to explain the strange occurrence, which seems like blood flowing out of the ice. A research team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Colorado College has finally solved the mystery of Antarctica “blood falls”.
Blood Falls Mystery Solved
The researchers used a Transmission Electron Microscope, which can magnify objects 2 million times, and found tiny nanospheres floating in the water. Further investigation revealed that the tiny objects, around the size of a billionth part of a meter, were iron, calcium, silica, sodium, and aluminum. The iron gets oxidized turning into iron-oxides and -hydroxides, giving the water a ‘blood-like’ color as soon as it mixes with air, the research revealed.
Nanospheres Were Undetected Previously
The researchers said the previous studies were unable to detect the nano-spheres because these are not minerals. These nanospheres aren’t crystalline, so the methods previously used to examine the solids did not detect them,” a research scientist, Ken Livi said.
