Rio Tinto, the alien river
No fish, amphibians or insects live in the red waters of the Rio Tinto. And on the banks of the river, plants hardly grow. Rio Tinto’s red waters are filled with heavy metals, low in oxygen and extremely acidic, to the point where they are almost pure sulfuric acid at some points. The river is not dead.
Although it looks like an alien, this river is located in Huelva. And it's full of living things. It is inhabited by thousands of species: archaea, bacteria, fungi and algae; all microorganisms, extremophilic microorganisms. Some feed on minerals, oxidize iron and sulfur compounds, which is precisely what gives the river a red color (iron oxides).
The lands around the river have been exploited for at least 5,000 years through the extraction of iron, gold, silver, copper, etc. the mine was closed in 2001, and since then, not the miners, scientists work in Rio Tinto.
In addition to having an extraterrestrial appearance, the conditions are as well. Scientists consider it a place similar to Mars. The European Space Agency (ESA) has tested the technology to bring it to Mars, such as the Eurobot robot. And researchers at the CSIC Astrobiology Center (CAB) and NASA have been investigating Rio Tinto for years. In fact, they believe that if extraterrestrial life is to be discovered, for example, on Mars or on Jupiter's moon Europe, it is likely to be in conditions similar to those of Rio Tinto.
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