Researchers have long believed that frozen environments slow chemical reactions, but new research challenges this belief. In a study published last month in the journal PNAS, researchers have demonstrated that ice can dissolve iron minerals better than liquid water, with implications for the many Arctic rivers mysteriously turning orange as the planet warms. Iron dissolves more efficiently“It may sound counterintuitive, but ice is not a passive frozen block,” Boily said in a university statement. Moving forward, Boily and researchers are working to discover whether their results apply to all ice containing iron. This can affect water quality and aquatic ecosystems across vast areas.”Ice is an active playerNotably, it might also have something to do with why rivers in the Arctic are turning an alarming orange.