From undersea noises to wandering rocks, are 10 of the most famous mysteries to have been solved…. (for the most part!) 10. Blood Falls Because of its remote location and inhospitable environment, there’s a lot still to be discovered in Antarctica.
One feature that’s been a mystery ever since they were found are the blood falls in the Mcmurdo Dry Valley. Pouring from the Taylor Glacier, the water is a deep red colour, and has an average temperature of only 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit- well below the freezing point of 32! Initially, the colour of the falls was thought to be as a result of red algae, but recent radar scans have unveiled the true cause. Beneath the glacier, there’s a complex network of sub-glacial rivers and a huge sub-glacial lake, all of which are filled with salt water that is high in iron, which gives it the red colour Casinoslots Ireland. This also explains why it flows at such cold temperatures instead of freezing, and allows the rivers to exist, despite flowing through the coldest glacier on the planet. 9 Clicking in Stockholm Harbour In 1981, a Russian submarine, armed with a nuclear warhead, entered Swedish waters near a naval base. At the time it was blamed on an accidental navigation error, but since then, the Swedes have kept a careful listen out for any more intrusions into their territory. 13 years later, in 1994, acoustic devices picked up the tell tale sign of a vessel, with a series of metallic clicking noises being heard near Stockholm harbour. In response, the Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, apparently sent a strong worded message to Boris Yeltsin, so you can only imagine his embarrassment when the true cause of the sound was discovered. Scientists looked into it, and discovered that rather than being produced by a Russian submarine, the clicking noises were actually caused by fish farts. More precisely, the expulsion of air by herring- something it’s now thought they do as a means of communication to help form protective shoals overnight. 8. The City of Troy The ancient city of Troy was the focus of Homer’s “Illiad”, where it lay under siege for more than 10 years before finally succumbing to a Greek army being led by King Agamemnon. Troy is famous for the beautiful Helen of Troy, Achilles, and the horse. Many stories have been told of the place, but the site of the true ancient city of Troy is located to the northwest of Turkey. Whether this is the city described by Homer, or even if the Trojan War actually took place, is a matter of debate, but one thing’s for sure- the real Troy, now known as Hisarlik, has been there for thousands of years and is a place steeped in mystery itself. It was first inhabited around 3,000 BC, and has seen a number of wars since. Each time the city was knocked to the ground it was re-built, and there is evidence of at least 10 different cities lying on top of each other. The earliest settlement was a small city surrounded by stone, and outside was a large stone with an image of a face inscribed upon it- thought to be the representation of a deity welcoming visitors. Excavations have found a number of treasures there, some thought to have belonged to King Priam himself or another wealthy king who would have ruled over the area. There might be more truth to the legends than we thought. 7. Mass Whale Graveyard In 2011, during a road widening project in the Atacama Desert of Chile, builders stumbled across a mass graveyard, but it wasn’t what you might expect.
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