This region is a series of val­leys devoid of per­ma­nent ice cov­er, cov­er­ing an area of ​​approx­i­mate­ly 4,800 square kilo­me­ters. The unique cli­mate is cre­at­ed by kata­bat­ic winds, which reach speeds of up to 300 kilo­me­ters per hour and lit­er­al­ly blow away snow and mois­ture. Frozen lakes such as Lake Van­da and Lake Bon­ney are found here, as well as the salti­est body of water on Earth, Don Juan Pond. Blood Falls, col­ored by iron-bear­ing bac­te­ria, is locat­ed in the Tay­lor Val­ley. Despite the harsh con­di­tions, microor­gan­isms have been found in the rocks and beneath the ice sheets of the lakes, mak­ing this region impor­tant for astro­bi­ol­o­gy. Ear­ly explor­ers believed there was no life here, but mod­ern research has proven oth­er­wise. The area is used as a Mars ana­logue for test­ing tech­nolo­gies from NASA and oth­er agen­cies. Geo­log­i­cal­ly, the val­leys con­sist of gran­ite and gneiss, cov­ered with grav­el and moraine deposits. These unique con­di­tions have been pre­served for mil­lions of years, mak­ing them a nat­ur­al lab­o­ra­to­ry for study­ing the Earth­’s cli­mate and evo­lu­tion.