22. Blood Falls – Victoria Land, East Antarctica
The outflow of this reddish plume of water from the edge of Taylor Glacier in McMurdo Dry Valleys in Victoria Land, East Antarctica is a sight like no other. Scientists initially thought the red color was due to some form of algae but later found it was because of the presence of salinity and iron that give the water its color. Almost two million years ago, the glacier sealed a small water body containing an ancient community of microbes, below a layer of ice that metabolizes sulfate and ferric ions in it to survive.
