2023-10-03 15:24:25
We thought they were confined to the Namibian and Australian deserts, but the fairy circles never cease to amaze us. A team of researchers spotted these strange geological formations in around fifteen other countries and brought them together in a unique atlas. Explanation.
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Fairy circles are these small, more or less circular areas, two to twelve meters in diameter, without vegetation, surrounded by plants and herbs that are found exclusively in the desert areas of Namibia and Australia. At least we thought so, until a team of Spanish researchers stated in a study having spotted them in other areas of the Globe! It was necessary to call on artificial intelligence to map the 263 sites spread between the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Madagascar and South-West Asia, thus forming the first atlas of its kind. Scientific mysteries which are magical only in their name, and which are beginning to reveal their secrets to scientists.
The little secrets of fairy circles…
The fairy circles, which sometimes extend for hundreds of kilometers, giving the ground a strange dappled appearance, follow Alan Turing’s mathematical model that random disturbances and a reaction-diffusion mechanism can lead to the appearance spontaneous natural structures with very stable patterns.
The tufts of grass growing around these circles increase shading and water infiltration around neighboring roots, helping to combat water stress in these very dry regions. These plants would also lower temperatures to make it easier for new grasses to germinate and grow.
For a long time, hypotheses to explain this strange phenomenon have multiplied. Termites, plant toxins and even micro-meteorites have in turn been suspected!
Not to be confused with witches’ circles, pretty circular formations of mushrooms whose origins are clearly identified.
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