Researchers in Jordan are puzzled after a pool of water near the Dead Sea turned blood red just recently. Witnesses are not sure about how it happened as the pool is usually clear blue. Could it be the end?
This is the second such instance in two years of a water body turning red in the region. The Dead Sea pool is the only body of water that has been affected. Other bodies of water in the area are clear, the Independent reported.
As per the biblical tale, God turned the waters of the River Nile into blood, which killed the fish and prevented the Egyptians from drinking the foul water, in the first of 10 plagues that came as the Pharaoh’s punishment for refusing to free his Jewish slaves.
According to Fathi Al-Huwaimel, the head of the Water and Agriculture Committee of the Al-Karak Council, despite the strange phenomenon, researchers are now trying to find the source of why it turned blood red. There are several theories presented:
One is that a type of red algae and bacteria that changes its color when there is a presence of sunlight. But this theory seems unlikely because the pool of water is often exposed to the sun and the other surrounding pools did not turn blood red.
Another is that the iron oxide in the water could create a change in color. But experts did not say how the presence of iron oxide be in the water all of a sudden.
The head of Jordanian Geologists Syndicate Sakhr Al-Nusour said that the color of the water could have been caused by human factors. Some believe that the government is dumping pollution or chemicals into the pool which caused it to turn blood red.
Scientists are still doing research in the coming weeks. If it is indeed a warning from God or not, it remains a mystery.
The Alexander River in Israel turned red in May last year due to blood flowing from adjoining slaughterhouses, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature.
