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3. What is the significance of the deep, red color of the Rio Tinto river in Spain? (1:43 minutes)
Dr. Carol Stoker: "The significance of the color of the river is that the river is carrying a huge burden of dissolved metals in particular iron also things like copper, gold, arsenic. Theres a huge range of dissolved metals in the river water. Its really the dissolved iron thats causing the red color. The reason its significant is that the process by which the river is carrying this huge amount of dissolved metals is because the river is has a very low pH, that is the acidity of the river. So, the river is a very acid ah, high acid composition, and the acidity is being produced by a microbial ecosystem that essentially is metabolizing these iron sulfide minerals or sulfides in particular, and excreting sulfuric acid as a byproduct. So, the expedition is really about exploring this extremophile biosphere. That is ah, the organisms are acidophiles, or acid-loving organisms. And these organisms are of interest from the point of view of Mars exploration because we believe that there is a that the surface ecosystem is essentially repeated underground, or it extends underground, and that there might be similar environments to this on Mars where there would be life on Mars, but under the surface."
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