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Mystery for over 100 years, the origin of the waterfall of blood in Antarctica is finally revealed

2023-08-04 10:40:08Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Mystery for over 100 years, the origin of the waterfall of blood in Antarctica
Blood waterfall

It was 1911 when the British geologist, Thomas Griffith Taylor, made a remarkable discovery during the famous Terra Nova expedition to Antarctica. At the base of a glacier, which was later named Taylor in honor of its discoverer, flowed a waterfall of blood-red water.

For more than a century, researchers and scientists have searched for the reasons for this incredible phenomenon, advancing various theories.

Now a group of researchers has used a powerful transmission electron microscope to examine samples of the solid nanospheres found in abundance in the bleeding waters. Analysis has revealed that they were small iron-rich balls (one-hundredth the size of a human red blood cell) to color the water red by oxidizing it.

"In addition to iron, they contain many other elements, such as silicon, calcium, aluminum and sodium," explains Ken Livi, one of the authors.

The nature of the nanospheres has not been clear until now, not only because they are small, but also because the research groups that had previously investigated believed it was a mineral that colored the water red, when in reality the nanospheres are not minerals.

"To be a mineral, the atoms must have a very specific, crystalline structure. These nanospheres are not crystalline, so the methods previously used to examine the found solids did not detect them," Livi explains.

It was recent missions to Mars that gave Liv, an expert on planetary materials, the idea to investigate the origins of the blood of the waterfalls.

"With the arrival of missions to Mars, an interest has arisen around the analysis of solid bodies present in the blood flowing water, as if it were a Martian landing site", explains Livi. In fact, scientists believe that understanding the Antarctic environment and the life forms that inhabit it could help in the search for life on other planets with equally inhospitable environments.

The study, in addition to solving the mystery of the blood falls, has highlighted another problem that needs to be focused on.

"Our research reveals that the analysis performed by the rovers failed to determine the true nature of the materials found on other planets. This is true for planets colder than Mars, where the materials that form may be nanoscopic rather than crystalline," Livi asserts.

To truly understand the nature of the materials that make up the surface of rocky planets, a transmission electron microscope may be needed, but it's not currently possible to use one on Mars, he explains.


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