Bloody waterfall on the Taylor Glacier: why it has such an eerie appearance

In the distant and harsh Antarctica, among the lifeless ice fields, the most terrible waterfall on the planet flows. Scarlet streams of liquid make their way through the thickness of the age-old snows of the Taylor Glacier, horrifying and bewitching anyone who can get here with their views.

The first version of why the water stream has such an unusual appearance was made immediately after the opening of the bloody waterfall. Griffith Taylor himself suggested that algae are to blame for the smallest microorganisms that have a red color. According to the scientist, for some reason they could remain in the glacier and, when thawed, color the water in a bright red color.

But due to the severity of the climate, the inaccessibility of the research area and the inconstancy of the waterfall itself, scientists for a long time could not study the mysterious water body in more detail. So far, American experts, led by a microbiologist Jill Mikutsky, have not found out that ordinary rust gives red color to the waterfall, and algae have nothing to do with it.

It turned out that the chemical composition of the water flowing from the Taylor Glacier is very unusual. A large amount of dissolved salts was found in the waterfall, which leads to the fact that the water does not freeze for a long time with the onset of cold weather, and the waterfall continues to flow even at minus 10 degrees. This led scientists to the idea that the waterfall is not a consequence of the melting of the glacier, but has a different origin.

Soon it was revealed that the water stream flows from a salt lake, which formed several million years ago. When the level of the oceans was higher than modern, the lake was part of the marine area. But with a decrease in water level on the mainland, a lake formed, which subsequently turned out to be covered with ice.

But the riddles of the bloody waterfall do not end there. It is still not clear why the water flows from the lake. Presumably this happens when the glacial carapace steps on the lake and water under pressure flows through a crack in the body of the glacier. But no convincing evidence of this process was found, and the bloody waterfall is not so easy to find on the spot to conduct additional research.