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There is a glacier in Antarctica that seems to be weeping a river of blood. It’s one of the continent’s strangest features, and it’s located in one of the continent’s strangest places — the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a huge, ice-free zone and one of the world’s harshest deserts. So imagine you’re hiking through this –
– which has been kept ice-less since God was a child because of something called the katabatic winds, which sweep over the valleys at up to 200 mph and suck all the moisture out of them. Anyway, you’re hiking along, passing dessicated penguin carcasses and such, and you come to this.
A bleeding glacier. Discovered in 1911 by a member of Robert Scott’s ill-fated expedition team, its rusty color was at first theorized to be caused by some sort of algae growth. Later, however, it was proven to be due to iron oxidation. Every so often, the glacier spews forth a clear, iron-rich liquid that quickly oxidizes and turns a deep shade of red. According to Discover Magazine –
The source of that water is an intensely salty lake trapped beneath 1,300 feet of ice, and a new study has now found that microbes have carved out a niche for themselves in that inhospitable environment, living on sulfur and iron compounds. The bacteria colony has been isolated there for about 1.5 million years, researchers say, ever since the glacier rolled over the lake and created a cold, dark, oxygen-poor ecosystem.
Even weirder: scientists think that the bacteria responsible for Blood Falls might be an Earth-bound approximation of the kind of alien life that might exist elsewhere in the solar system, like beneath the polar ice caps of Mars and Europa.
More from mental_floss…
Vacation to Mars: A Photo Tour of Antarctica’s Dry Valleys
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Strange Geographies: Salvation Mountain
Comments (40)
Comment
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Interesting and slightly disgusting looking.
posted by Chelsea G. on 1-28-2010 at 11:04 am
That has got to be one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. GAH!
posted by Helenann on 1-28-2010 at 11:06 am
That is really freaky. And, even though you know what makes it that color, it’s still pretty gross.
posted by Rachel on 1-28-2010 at 11:20 am
That’s wild. We need to send you on a business trip to Antarctica for some Really Strange Geographies posts. Does AirTran fly that way?
posted by Jason English on 1-28-2010 at 11:23 am
I’d like to see an article on just the McMurdo Dry Valleys. I know I could just Wikipedia them, but everything is always much better-written and more entertaining on mental_floss.
posted by Karen on 1-28-2010 at 11:24 am
Oxidation or not, that looks like the world’s creepiest crime scene.
posted by LadyBugg on 1-28-2010 at 11:24 am
One of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen! Any idea what the strange blue, orange and white contraption is (located at the bottom left corner of the second picture)?
posted by EALAW on 1-28-2010 at 12:19 pm
What if it’s The Thing?!
posted by eRyn on 1-28-2010 at 1:07 pm
I feel as though there’s a really inappropriate iPad joke to be made about this.
posted by The Revolutionary on 1-28-2010 at 1:25 pm
ealaw -
I think that’s a tent! Big bleeding glacier.
posted by badscience on 1-28-2010 at 1:27 pm
The Revolutionary and I both thought of the stupid iPad! Not to be disgusting but maybe now I’ll get my friends to start referring to their times of the month as Blood Falls!!!
On second thought maybe not cuz now when I think of Blood Falls I see the picture in my head. *shudder* Disgusting but as always very interesting! Great job, mental_floss!!
posted by KillerQueen11 on 1-28-2010 at 2:15 pm
In the words of Mr Garrison “I don’t believe in anything that bleeds for 3 days and doesn’t die.”
posted by Big Jonny on 1-28-2010 at 4:49 pm
Wow, that’s really fascinating! Thanks for posting this.
posted by Cara on 1-28-2010 at 5:32 pm
Earth-bound bacteria! I want to know more about that please!
posted by Heather Black on 1-28-2010 at 6:58 pm
I agree with Karen! I find the articles on Mental Floss to always be more interesting than Wikipedia… even though I do have quite a love for Wikipedia.
Also, that picture definitely is creepy.
posted by Kelky on 1-28-2010 at 8:35 pm
http://www.arcticstockimages.com – another great recource for images from Antarctica
posted by Anders on 1-29-2010 at 3:27 am
Nice try “scientists”! We all know it’s a river of blood from all the penguins killed by leopard seals.
posted by Dan on 1-29-2010 at 11:09 am
that is really cool and freaky at the same time…great post.
posted by Jennfier on 2-1-2010 at 12:06 pm
I’m with Heather — can we hear more about those bacteria? They sound fascinating! Does this “blood river” remind anyone else of the recent photos from Mars of the oxidized areas that were slipping down cliff sides? I think it was sometime in the past month that it was in the Morning Cup of Links — really great photos of Mars showing them!
posted by Stacy on 2-3-2010 at 2:55 pm
Well. it is “mother earth”.
posted by Rennie on 2-8-2010 at 7:44 pm
Proof that the Earth is female?
posted by Jeff on 3-3-2010 at 10:06 pm
Before they mentioned it in the article I also thought that these microbes could be similar to discoveries on other planets given their seclusion for so many years. In such a salty lake I can only imagine what kind of things are fossilized below! OOO the possibilities :)
posted by austin on 3-4-2010 at 11:31 pm
I spent about 10 days doing some work near the base of that glacier. In a landscape that has very few colors (grey rocks + white ice) it’s quite a sight.
posted by ColdGuy on 3-7-2010 at 10:03 am
To those who are saying algee or bacteria ur as dumb as my wife and ill informed as my two year old son. It says iron oxide right in the freakin article. DURRR!!!!!!!!!!
posted by RonnieSmith1981 on 3-7-2010 at 12:07 pm
Its mother nature’s period.
posted by Stephen on 3-7-2010 at 2:07 pm
What!? No religious theories about how that glacier is the second coming? It’s the largest and slowest stigmata ever!!!
posted by Ryan on 3-7-2010 at 2:42 pm
“largest and slowest stigmata ever” = best comment ever LOL!
posted by Laura on 3-7-2010 at 5:13 pm
I’m just glad it’s not blood from sea lions or something.
posted by Fayetteville Videographer on 3-7-2010 at 10:31 pm
The Dry Valleys are stunning indeed.
The winds that keep the valleys dry are actually a type of ‘foehn’ or ‘fohn’ wind – not katabatic =)
http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-pdf&doi=10.1175%2F2010JCLI3382.1
posted by clare on 3-7-2010 at 10:56 pm
For somebody who has read the article so many times, you did a pretty good job missing why the water is actually red. I’m impressed!
posted by Dertiv on 3-8-2010 at 12:58 am
Wowww….. Thats all I have to say… Wow..
posted by Anna on 3-9-2010 at 9:57 pm
Tikkeli-li!
posted by Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Ftagn! on 3-12-2010 at 5:34 am
Well I for one welcome our new Tentacled Overlords!
posted by Food Of The Gods on 3-15-2010 at 7:32 pm
Even weirder if humans come into contact with it they become zombies.
posted by Seth Platt on 3-17-2010 at 11:11 pm
Wow loved this place simply rocking guys.
posted by Dusty on 3-19-2010 at 12:51 am
Hello! egdaeeb interesting egdaeeb site!
posted by Pharma16 on 3-31-2010 at 12:11 am
I love statements like “scientists think that the bacteria responsible for Blood Falls might be an Earth-bound approximation of the kind of alien life that might exist elsewhere in the solar system”
No reason for them to think that. They just do. Meaningless.
Otherwise, pretty interesting.
posted by ks on 4-1-2010 at 8:40 pm
HP Lovecraft’s story “At the Mountains of Madness” was set in antarctica. Maybe he knew about the fscked up stuff there?
posted by Solar on 6-28-2010 at 7:54 am
Well, at least we know this glacier should be referred to as “She”…
posted by jane on 8-24-2010 at 10:54 pm
katabatic winds may reach 200kph but not 200 mph.
posted by Jim on 8-26-2010 at 3:26 pm