Icy waterfall that flows blood red

QUESTION How was the giant blood-red waterfall in Antarctica formed?

Blood Falls is a waterfall that runs out of antarctica’s Taylor Glacier. The red colour of the water has been found to be the result of iron-rich brine leaking from underneath the glacier which turns red when making contact with the air.

The glacier was discovered in 1911 by the australian geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor, who first explored the valley that bears his name. The red water was first assumed to be the result of red algae.

In fact, microbes have been shown to play a role but not in such a direct manner. The other mystery was why water was fluid at such low temperatures.

The explanation for the phenomenon was fully revealed in 2017. a radio-echo study concluded that when the Taylor Glacier formed about two million years ago, it trapped a briny lake and a network of subglacial rivers beneath it.

Within this lake is a unique subglacial ecosystem of microbes that metabolises sulphate and iron. The water remains liquid because the lake has such a high concentration of salt, which has a lower freezing point than pure water. Furthermore, while it may sound counterintuitive, water releases heat as it freezes, and that energy melts the surrounding colder ice, and causes the water to flow. a small amount escapes out of the south end of the glacier and, when exposed to the air, the iron oxidises and turns the water red.

David Finch, Plymouth, Devon.

QUESTION Who holds the record for the distance travelled on a paddle board?

The Guinness World Record for piloting a stand-up paddle board or SUP belongs to Peter Charlesworth, of australia. From March 4 to June 11, 2023, he paddled 1,663.62 miles along the Murray River in australia. he travelled solo and camped each night of the journey to achieve the feat. Charlesworth’s challenge was to raise awareness for heart health, after his own triple bypass surgery in 2020.

Charlesworth surpassed the record set by shilpika Gautam, who travelled 1,641.2 miles on an SUP, the length of the Ganges River in India, starting on october 2, 2016, and finishing 102 days later on January 17. Gautam’s mission was to raise awareness of water pollution in the Ganges and was particularly challenging given the currents and levels of pollution in the river.

south african waterman Chris Bertish should also be mentioned. In 2017 he made an extraordinary 93-day solo trip across the atlantic on a modified SUP. Bertish’s original mission was to paddle from Morocco to Florida, but bad weather slowed him down and forced him south. so he made a new destination: antigua, a distance of 4,600 miles.

his craft was designed by Phil Morrison, a naval architect, and resembled a connected row-boat and a stand-up paddle board, called ImpiFish. The 6m board alone weighed 350kg, and held an extra 350kg of food and other supplies. It took an estimated two million strokes to complete his epic journey, paddling 15 hours a day, mostly at night to avoid the sun.

Diane Smith, Nerja, Spain.

QUESTION What are some of the most famous riddles in literature?

FURTHER to the earlier answers, one of the best is lord Byron’s riddle, a classic of misdirection: ‘The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, The beginning of every end, and the end of every place.’

The answer is disarming in its simplicity. It’s the letter ‘e’. Jocelyn Simons, York.

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