Black Iceberg image goes viral on Reddit

An amazingly ominous picture of a black iceberg on social media platform Reddit.com is creating quite a stir among online denizens as it went viral within hours of it being published on January 4, 2013.

The iceberg stands in sharp contrast to another whitish iceberg in the photo which seems to have been taken during the day. The image has thus far been viewed some 1.17 million times, got more than 20,000 ‘up votes’ and, strangely, another 17,000 ‘down votes’, with more than 1,200 people commenting on the Reddit post.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, most icebergs are white except along freshly calved ice cliffs, which tend to appear blue. “Others may appear green, brown or black, or combinations of these colours,” it says.

“The various colorations are caused by differences in density, air-bubble content and impurities,” the encyclopedia explains. “For example, black ice is of high density and bubble free; dark layers indicate the presence of rock materials derived from the base of the parent glacier. Occasionally, rocks may be found on the original upper surface of the iceberg. As the iceberg melts, these materials precipitate into marine or lake sediments.”

The Black Iceberg picture, as it is being referred to online, was posted by Reddit user Rundboll, who did not mention where this picture was taken although other users have been speculating that the image must have been clicked somewhere in New Zealand.

Black icebergs are indeed scarcer than white icebergs, but the Tasman Glacier Lake in New Zealand is known as the ‘home of the black icebergs’.

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