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Published online 16 April 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.368
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Life thrives beneath Antarctic glacier
Unique chemistry enables microbes to survive harsh conditions.
Researchers have discovered a new kind of microbial life flourishing in a dark, icy-cold pool underneath an Antarctic glacier. The finding has implications for how life might have survived on Earth during the coldest, grimmest epochs.
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"because iron and sulphate would just react together to make pyrite" Insoluble FeS2 is golden iron pyrite or black marcasite. FeSO4 (green vitriol, copperas) is entirely soluble and stable in (deoxygenated) water. Blood Falls is simple pollution that would do any acid waste-draining mine proud.