Tourists were treated to the rare sight of blood-red rains flowing down a cliff to the beach of Hormuz Island.
The “blood rain” that painted an Iranian island’s coastline scarlet last week was caused by high concentrations of oxidized iron in the local soil, according to specialists.
Rainwater streamed down a cliff to the beach on Hormuz Island, which is located in the Strait of Hormuz between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.
One of the videos of the uncommon sight, which received over a million likes on Instagram, shows tourists watching blood-red precipitation pour down the island, known as “rainbow island” because to its colorful soil and mineral deposits.
“The island is a salt dome, a teardrop-shaped mound of rock salt, gypsum, anhydrite, and other evaporites that has risen upward through overlying layers of rock,” NASA’s Earth Observatory noted.
“Rock salt or halite is weak and buoyant, so it loses its brittleness and flows more like a liquid when under high pressure.”
“Blood rain” happens when significant quantities of red dust or particles are mixed into rain, giving it a crimson color, according to the UK Met Office.
However, on the Iranian island, the crimson shoreline was caused by the region’s iron-rich red soil combining with rainwater, according to Simon Frasers University earth sciences professor Brent Ward.
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A earlier study discovered that iron was the most plentiful of all the metals examined in the soil. “The rising mass is not purely made of salt,” the observatory stated in a statement. “Embedded within it are layers of clay, carbonates, shale, and iron-rich volcanic rocks, some of which have taken on vivid shades of red, yellow and orange as they moved upward and interacted with water and minerals from other rock layers.”
The island’s soil is so mineral-rich that it is utilized as a local spice, with a significant impact on the region’s gastronomic culture. The red soil is used to make a particular local bread called “tomshi” in Hormuz.
Scientists warn against utilizing earth in cuisines due to its high metal content.
“The natives of this region of Iran refer to this soil as ‘Gelak’ and use it as a spice. According to a 2023 study published in the journal Chemosphere, they make a sauce from the red dirt and use it in a variety of meals.
