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Science

Why Are All the Rocks in This River Valley in China Now Red?

Jul. 20, 2012 11:34am Liz Klimas

Massive Algal Bloom Covers Chinese Slope in Red

(Photo: Guoxiang Liu via New Scientist)

In 2005, the rocks on Mount Gongga in China became red. It was as if the Queen of Hearts had ordered someone make it so.

But a recent study from Chinese scientists has found out just why the location, now a tourist attraction for those who want to see the odd phenomenon, is covered with this red mat. No, the rocks were not just painted red.

New Scientist reports researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, Hubei, China, found it is simply a new, rock-loving variety of algae gone wild. Guoxiang Liu and his colleagues published their research in PLoS One stating that it is just a “massive” bloom of Trentepohlia jolithus. As the researchers put it “most of the rocks are covered with deep red coloured algal carpets” in the Yajiageng river valley now.

Microscopic view of Trentepohlia jolithus. (Image via PLoS One)

New Scientist explains how and why this algae only seems to have begun thriving in the area recently:

Uniquely, this variety only grows on local rocks. In recent years, large debris flows combined with human activity, such as road construction, have exposed vast swathes of fresh native rock, ripe for the algae to colonise – and the mat has remained.

According to the paper published in the scientific journal earlier this week, the area is now called “Red-Stone-Valley” thanks to the algal bloom. The scientists say global warming could have contributed to the algae’s spread as well.

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Comments (86)

KingCanon
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:53pm
Homosexuality caused this, not global warming!

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- Smoovious
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 4:59pm
  Totally wrong…
  
  Bush’s fault…
  
  – Smoov
  
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- TexasHunter
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 6:24pm
  The rivers will bleed RED.. Just another sign to be ready. God is well alive!
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 6:59pm
  @Texashunter Nice thought but I am sure the passage pertains to blood since 90% of all humans will be dead when Christ returns.
  
  Report this comment
- Hydra
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 7:25pm
  lol when christ returns
  
  Report this comment
- jhaydeng
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 9:33pm
  Did anyone hear what happened to the Farm Bill from the Bush era! Jeff Sessions was on Levin and explained it! Eye opening! Lots of waste!
  
  Report this comment
DesdemonasCrew
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:46pm
I agree. I enjoyed the story until I got to the last sentence.

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- rickc34
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 2:06pm
  Global warming? another Gore Fairy Tale, Global temps have only increased 1 degree in the last century. Read 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 10 for comments on global warming from God.
  
  Report this comment
- QuincySmith
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 3:33pm
  “According to the paper published in the scientific journal earlier this week, the area is now called “Red-Stone-Valley” thanks to the algal bloom. The scientists say global warming could have contributed to the algae’s spread as well.” – So much for the GREEN Movement!
  
  Report this comment
- mrspeedwagon
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 5:03pm
  Doesen’t matter if global temps Increased or Decreased. This planet has been around 5 billion years, and it is going to do what it WANTS to do. To think that “man” which is like a gnat on an elephants ass, compared to the planet,….. can effect the earths climate is perposterous
  
  Report this comment
- 65Mustang
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 5:50pm
  MRSSPEEDWAGON: I think 5 billion years is a stretch along with…….global warming.
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 6:56pm
  @mrspeedwagon
  Where did you get “5 billion years?” Scientists can prove the earth is no more that 25,000 years old.
  http://www.earthage.org/youngearthev/evidence_for_a_young_earth.htm
  
  Bet you believe in evolution. First there was nothing. Then nothing started spinning and exploded into everything. It rained on the rocks which became primordial ooze which produced a one celled plant that evolved into man. I believe in creation. Evolution could not happen in 25,000 years.
  
  Report this comment
- buubbytraps
  Posted on July 21, 2012 at 5:50am
  oooops…25,000 years, pretty much leaves no room for dinosaurs.
  
  aah , forgot…no such thing.
  
  Report this comment
GetRealThinker
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:41pm
I am absolutely sure the red rocks have nothing to do with the pollution China puts in its rivers. Do not even consider pollution. Strike from your mind. Erase, Erase!

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- SgtB
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 5:04pm
  I too am sure it has nothing to do with the massive amounts of fertilizer that they use on fields and pollution they pour into their water. Wasn’t it just last year that watermelons over there were exploding on the vines (literally) because of a hormone based fertilizer?
  
  Report this comment
- 4xeverything
  Posted on July 21, 2012 at 8:05am
  I’m absolutely not thinking about that either.
  
  Report this comment
- listeninginVT
  Posted on July 21, 2012 at 9:38am
  no kidding. they almost completely cop to it, then take a hard turn into ‘glob. warm’. ridiculous
  
  Report this comment
thegreatcarnac
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:34pm
Because hundreds of litle chinese ladies were forced to take little brushes and little buckets of red paint and go paint the river rocks every night for Mao’ birthday bash.

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NLenz
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:30pm
Anybody else getting a ‘War of the Worlds’ vibe here (remember the red weed)?

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- willingtoupe
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:43pm
  Beautiful AVATAR.
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 6:07pm
  Of course! I understand it now! The algae is sucking the blood out of the rocks.
  
  Report this comment
LeadNotFollow
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:24pm
…
There it is !!!
Last sentence in story.
“The scientists say global warming could have contributed to the algae’s spread as well.”
The liberals always try to tie everything to global warming.

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- debkk9
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:30pm
  I thought it was an interesting story till I got to the last sentence…………wow
  
  Report this comment
- KeystoneState
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:33pm
  Commie rocks!!!!!!
  
  Report this comment
- FoxholeAtheist
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 4:23pm
  That’s because this planet is heating up, you idiot! You people are like a frog in a kettle. You won’t notice your demise until it is too late. There’s plenty of evidence for it, yet you don’t believe it but you believe in god, which has no evidence whatsoever.
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 5:52pm
  @Foxholeatheist
  But the Bible does talk about “global warming.” Amos 9:13 says “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper…” The weather is going to get so mild that as soon as you harvest one crop you can plant another. Sounds pretty good to me.
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 5:56pm
  At least they didn’t bring evolution into it. “It rained on the rocks and formed ‘ooze’ that turned into plants.”
  
  Report this comment
- TexasHunter
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 6:31pm
  FOXHOLE Try to read Revelation 16:4
  It can be your homework assignment over the weekend.
  
  Report this comment
- 4xeverything
  Posted on July 21, 2012 at 8:13am
  HOLE,
  When you have lived a few more years on this Earth and matured a bit (maturity being most important not age) then, you come on back and play with the big kids. Until that time, do as TEXASHUNTER says and get workin’ on that homework. Useful idiots are only useful for so long then, they will throw you out with the trash.
  
  Report this comment
LeadNotFollow
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:20pm
…
“Red China”.

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garylee123
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:18pm
Because they’re communist rocks. Send me my grant money.

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Calm Voice of Reason
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:15pm
There is nothing in either of the two articles mentioned that claims this is a direct result of global warming. It WAS suggested that the drop in water levels that exposed the rocks upon which this algae flourishes might have been the result of climate change, but his phenomenon is only an indirect result.

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TRILO
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:13pm
What other color would you expect for a communist country.

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- bugstoo
  Posted on July 21, 2012 at 8:11am
  soon blue and white!
  
  Report this comment
makeemstop
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:44pm
When in Doubt… Blame it on Global Warming, Bush, Christianity, Guns or the Tea Party (depending on the situation and whom the Left & Anti-Christ want to blame or which part of the Constitution they want to destroy).

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Matt
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:39pm
Global warming had some effect in it? When the earth is currently COLDER than its ever been in the last 50 years?

Seriously……..

The sad thing is how many people buy this bulls***

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mayancalendar2012
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:25pm
Some kind of wierd stuff is always going on in China….

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Jase
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:25pm
China, where even the rocks are communists.

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- South Philly Boy
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:38pm
  Ha Ha Ha …That struck me funny… I just Love that
  
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- Dustoff
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:48pm
  Yikes, Red tide.
  
  Report this comment
psadie
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:17pm
Global warming? Huh, I think it is more like the toxins that China spews out daily. I have been to China; they don’t give a rat’s pituty about the environment. They are too busy trying to keep their people happy so they don’t riot because they won’t be able to control the violence.

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- HorseCrazy
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:33pm
  agreed. china is the worst polluter in the world. they do absolutely nothing to protect the world from the poisons they put in dog food, baby formula and numerous other products exprted globally why should anyone be surprised the nation that rips babies out of their mother’s wombs would not properly care for the enviroment in which they live.
  
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- Calm Voice of Reason
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 1:11pm
  China’s per capita carbon emissions are well below average in comparison to the rest of the world. (Source: http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/c1/page_13.shtml) Also, consider that they are also the industrial district for all first world countries.
  
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woodyee
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:17pm
It’s beautiful!

Maybe Governor Moonbeam can start a WPA-style works project to paint the Los Angeles Aqueduct red, so that we can lure Chinese tourists to spend their US dollars over here, and cut unemployment for a few months!

HOT-Cha!!!!!

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- Matt
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:42pm
  I don’t want any more commies spending their commie dollars here.
  
  I love asian people!! My sister in law is Japanese, my half sister is Filipino, and my Dad’s wife is Thai, and I even love chinese people.
  
  But I just really do not want dollars from communist china in my country. I dont even want their products here, but their money is where I draw the line. I know it would help our economy, thats not the point. Its the principle, the idea of the thing. That money is red with the blood of millions upon millions of babies.
  
  Report this comment
Gonzo
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:03pm
That must be the stuff Obama wants us to put in our gas tanks.

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- Apple Bite
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:21pm
  Yeah, must be. And we’d have to go to China to get it…
  
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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:02pm
Perhaps the same algae that will cause all water to turn red during the tribulation period? I know God does it, but is this HOW he does it? Just thinking out loud.

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- Gonzo
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:12pm
  I’ve thought about that myself Anon. I’m afraid we may find out for ourselves, if the post trib guys are right.
  
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- 762x51
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:37pm
  The ocean periodically experiences a phenomena called a plankton bloom which causes the water to appear red. Not algae, just plankton.
  
  Report this comment
- Matt
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:49pm
  Considering that there is nothing in the bible that suggests that there will be a rapture before a seven year period, I’d say its unlikely. You see, it could be the same algae, but there is no reason to believe it will happen during the so called, “tribulation” because outside the mind of Tim LaHaye and the minds of the many who have unfortunately decided to treat his ideas as the gospel truth instead of adhering to what the scriptures really say, the tribulation, and the rapture, do not exist, at all.
  
  Please, do me a favor and read revelation, (and the parts needed to decipher it in daniel, isaiah, joel, and ezekiel) and form your own, un influenced opinion that is based off what the Spirit tells you, not what some fiction writer tells you.
  
  It would be nice if there were a rapture. Most christians I think WANT to believe it, and thus see something that isnt there in the scriptures, because the thought of being alive during the last few years before Christ comes, which truly will be filled with terrible things, is truly horrifying. Unfortunately, the truth is that no where does God promise to take his sheep off this earth before it. However, he does promise to separate the chaff from the wheat. We will be on this earth, watching it unfold but God will make it so that most of the sufferings will pass over us as they did the Jews in Egypt.
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 7:07pm
  @Matt
  I agree, the rapture is an invention and not a fact. I believe in the “tribulation” which I think is going to start VERY soon. 90% of all humans will die.
  
  Report this comment
- RetiredAmericanNavyTaxpayer
  Posted on July 22, 2012 at 2:59pm
  @ MATT & RAMON
  
  Just wondering, why did Paul call it a “mystery” in 1 Cor. 15?
  
  Report this comment
jhrusky
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:56am
You all missed it … RED China. Communism. Pretty simple.

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historyguy48
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:50am
Comrades this is just another example of how Global Warming is destroying Mother Gaia!
Sure, perhaps the dimwit that believes that will buy the bridge in Brooklyn I am selling!
He, or she, is stupid enough!
Oh yes, I forgot, Global Warming is consensus science, kinda of like the Earth is flat!

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Tifn8r
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:49am
Global warming also could’ve contributed to the spread of my waistline…

Oh wait – that was probably the 32 oz. sodas.

Never mind.

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- Heb4Seven
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:17pm
  Are you drinking those big sodas because it’s so ‘globally warm’ outside?
  
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T-2
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:48am
Is this how Mars becomes the “red” planet?

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:55am
  I believe Mars is due to the oxidation of high iron content surface minerals.
  
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:47am
Global warming my foot.

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sWampy
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:43am
Global warming, oh my god, the end is near.

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GhostOfJefferson
Posted on July 20, 2012 at 11:35am
Because it’s the Red River Valley?

Oh my, I went there. :)

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on July 20, 2012 at 12:09pm
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezJkRDQmL2Y
  
  Report this comment

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