Dark red waterfall in Antarctica, “Blood Falls,” is still a scientific mystery<\/a>“), experts are still working to uncover what triggers the waterfall’s unpredictable flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Blood WaterFalls don’t flow year-round, but what makes them special is the fact that the water beneath the glacier remains liquid, despite the freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers have identified saltwater in a hidden natural reservoir beneath the Taylor Glacier that retains heat more effectively than regular freshwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The high salinity also lowers the freezing point, meaning the water remains liquid in the harsh Antarctic temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some researchers have suggested that the natural reservoir may be an ancient body of seawater, possibly trapped millions of years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The water then seeps through cracks in the glacier and erupts to the surface at irregular intervals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their color<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAs you might imagine, the color isn’t actually blood. The hue is the result of oxidation, a chemical process that occurs when iron-rich brine meets oxygen in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers once attributed the purple color to red algae, but that theory was eventually dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Careful chemical analyses later identified iron compounds that darken the hue of the gushing water, giving it a deep, red color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each time purple water appears, additional observations could provide clues as to what triggers the phenomenon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For decades, the Blood Falls have puzzled scientists about what causes the strange phenomenon. The falls were discovered on the Taylor Glacier in East…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2810,1168],"tags":[3362,6578,6579,6580],"class_list":["post-22711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate_environment","category-science-technology","tag-antarctica","tag-bloody-waterfalls","tag-mystery","tag-phenomenon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22714,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22711\/revisions\/22714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}