Antarctic Blood Falls: More Than Iron, Nanospheres of Different Elements, New Study Says

According to a recent study, the Antarctic Blood Falls contains various components in addition to iron and are composed of nanospheres that are even smaller than blood cells.

Antarctic Blood Falls

The origin of the blood-red waters at Blood Falls in Antarctica has long been a mystery, according to a group of scientists.

The strange, seemingly gruesome sight was originally spotted in 1911 by Thomas Griffith Taylor, a geologist first who attributed its appearance to red algae. Only 50 years later did it become clear that iron salts were what gave the pigment its crimson hue. The water is initially clear but quickly becomes crimson once it breaks through the ice, which is particularly intriguing since it indicates that iron is finally oxidizing after millennia of exposure to the air.

Nanospheres Rich in Several Elements

Recently, a new study looked at water samples and discovered that the iron takes an unusual shape. Technically speaking, it is not a mineral; rather, it exists in the form of nanospheres that are 100 times smaller than the red blood cells in the human body.

When research author Ken Livi first examined the microscope images, he discovered that the tiny nanospheres were iron-rich and contained a variety of other elements in addition to iron, including silicon, calcium, aluminum, and sodium. Atoms must be grouped in a highly precise, crystalline structure, according to Livi, for something to qualify as a mineral. The techniques previously employed to evaluate the solids did not pick up on these nanospheres because they are not crystalline.

Beyond Antarctica and possibly beyond Earth, this discovery has consequences. Only a few years ago, scientists were able to locate the water's original location, which was a highly pressured, extremely salty subglacial lake with no light or oxygen and an isolated microbial ecology that had existed for millions of years.

Although it's possible that life exists in similarly hostile environments on other planets, humans may not be sending the necessary technology up to look for it, Johns Hopkins University reports.

In actuality, that is how Livi, a specialist in planetary materials, decided to investigate the truth behind Blood Falls.

Application to Cold Environments Like Mars

The research done by Livi's team has shown that the analysis carried out by rover vehicles to ascertain the genuine composition of environmental elements on planet surfaces is lacking. This is particularly true for planets with lower temperatures, such as Mars, where the minerals generated may be non-crystalline and nanoscale in size.

As a result, our techniques for locating these materials are insufficient. It would be essential to use a transmission electron microscope to fully comprehend the nature of the surfaces of rocky planets, but it is currently not possible to put one on Mars, New Atlas reports.

The research done by Livi and his team was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.