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Fairy Dust?
Mysterious bare fleck call " faggot circles " dotting the sandy desert grassland of Nambia have long stumped scientists who have no idea how the strange blueprint human body . A late survey , detailed online June 27 , 2012 in the daybook PLoS ONE , does rip back some of the circles ' mystery . The investigator , including Florida State University biologist Walter Tschinkel , find the small circle stick around for about 24 geezerhood , while the big ones rest put as long as 75 years . Here , a typical nance roundabout in Namibia .
Studying the Circles
Few investigator have studied pouf circles , in part because of their farawayness , 111 mile ( 180 kilometer ) form the near hamlet . It ’s an desiccate landscape where springbok , ostrich , leopards and other large animals stray , Tschinkel say . ( Shown here , a faery circle seen in 2011 after the rain . )
Pretty Patterns
By comparing satellite images from 2004 and 2008 , Tschinkel ascertain that circles are quite unchanging , pop up at nearly their full size , or at least grow quickly once they get started . Here , the circles are shown disperse the landscape of Jagkop , Namibia , after a rainwater .
Fairy Circle Evolution
The smallest are about 6.5 feet ( 2 meters ) in diameter , while the largest can be almost 40 feet ( 12 m ) across . Eventually , plant move back in , re - colonizing the R-2 and get out only slightly indented " ghost circle " behind .
Going Down?
Over time as winds purge the scanty surface the fairy circles form slight depressions , like the one show here in the Namib Desert .
Checking on the Circles
In his study , Tschinkel also determined that the circles work on sandlike soil with only minimal stoniness , and that they do n’t form on shifting dunes or alluvial fan , where Baroness Dudevant are deposited by water .
Fairy Circle Life Cycle
The fairy circle ( shown here in the Namib Rand Nature Reserve ) seem to live for about 30 to 60 year , going from birth to maturity to re - vegetation .
Comparing Fairy Circles
Some of Tschinkel ’s experiments on the cause for the circles are still on-going , but so far , they ’ve generated no leads . Shown here , a complex of the various faerie circles hit the books .
Mystery Continues
Tschinkel suspects that the queer rotary ( read here in a composite paradigm ) are some form of raw self - organization by plants . Some model intimate plants can draw nutrients toward themselves , which boosts plant increase in some areas and depress it in others . However , this has n’t behave out as an explanation thus far .
