Blood Falls - bacteria thrive for millions of years beneath a rusty Antarctic glacier

Not Exactly Rocket Science
By Ed Yong
Apr 17, 2009 5:30 PMJul 12, 2023 3:31 PM

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Antarctica normally conjures images of white and blue, but the frozen continent can sometimes bear more unexpected colours. Take the Taylor Glacier - when geologist Griffith Taylor first explored it a century ago, he found a bizarre reddish stain that seemed to spill waterfall-like from the glacier's snout. The area became evocatively known as Blood Falls.

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