Bald patches in the grass are not caused by fairies as people thought, but by the absence of water.
(Mirror Daily, Unites States) – It seems that fairy circles are scientifically explained by the dispersion of underground water patches. But that doesn’t stop the Namibian, and now the Australian population to take a guess at a more spiritual explanation for the empty circles that used to appear in grass-covered lands.
Some speculated that the circles appeared wherever God places his feet, others preferred to look at the landscape mystery as a definitive sign of extraterrestrial visits.
There were even people who believed fairies gathered at night and performed ritualistic dances that softened the grass and created the circular bald spots.
But the favorite folklore interpretation of the phenomenon must be the one dictating that a fierce dragon once ruled the Namibian land. And with its firesome breath, it used to devastate everything in sight. And the flames he used to spit were so potent that the grass never grew back in the places where they fell.
Then the scientists came in and started analyzing the facts behind the occurrences. Three theories were devised, but none was as appealing as the thought of a mighty dragon, dancing fairies or ET dialing home.
According to the researchers that study the fairy circles, they could be produced by carbon monoxide that is rising from beneath the Earth’s surface, destroying the vegetation it encounters on its way. The second theory dictates that there might be insect colonies, especially termites and ants, dwelling just beneath the surface and munching on the roots of the plants.
The third and proven theory was that the grass somehow organizes itself in such a pattern in order to gain access to underground water sources.
The explanation was found by Stephen Getzin, head of the Ecological Modelling Department at the Environmental Research Centre of Helmholtz, Germany. The researcher was studying the mysterious patches that suddenly appeared in Australian territory after years of being exclusive in the Namibian area.
While analyzing the grass distribution from a helicopter, Getzin started to suspect that the grass’ pattern is similar to that of underground water deposits.
In order to demonstrate his theory, he compared the fairy circles with other curious vegetation formations that sprout on the Earth’s surface. There are tiger bush labyrinths in the arid parts of Australia, North America and West Africa which react in the same way as the circles.
But the German scientists admits that there are still more vegetation occurrences that cannot be explained, not yet that is. So even though fairy circles are scientifically explained, there are other phenomena that are still attributed to mythological beings.
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