Moss Circles in Tennessee?

A new phenomenon is 'cropping' up in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee - moss circles on logs. Moss circles are even appearing on cliff faces in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. Apparently they have been seen before, though I haven't heard about it, farther north in the Arctic Circle areas of Canada and Greenland.

Could they be caused by some kind of magnetic anomaly? Is the earth's magnetic field responsible? Is this a symptom of a magnetic pole shift?

I have yet to find the story on the web anyplace other than my homepage. I will excerpt the story here and provide a link as soon as one 'crops' up.

Scientists Puzzled by Patterns on Logs (AP)

Scientists are scratching their heads over strange patterns cropping up on moss-covered logs in parks in the region. Biologists first discovered symmetrical, bulls-eye patterned bare patches on liverworts, a plant closely related to moss, growing on fallen pine trees in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park last winter.

And a few weeks ago a biologist from the U.S. Geological Survey found similar growths on cliff faces _ not pine logs _ in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area on the Kentucky-Tennessee border northwest of Knoxville.

Similar patterns, resembling miniature crop circles etched into the soft green liverworts, have been observed in arctic regions of Greenland and Canada, but never as far south as the Smokies, which straddle the North Carolina-Tennessee border.

[edit on 5-6-2007 by Icarus Rising]

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Added LINK

[edit on 5/6/07 by masqua]

Do you have a picture or a link to a picture of these moss circles? I would like to see one.

The link has been added to the OP. Hopefully some images can be inserted in the thread so that members can view the patterns.

interesting story, IR...

Originally posted by masqua
Hopefully some images can be inserted in the thread so that members can view the patterns.

I did a bit of digging and this is the only image that I could find:

www.sfgate.com...
Last winter, researchers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park discovered this symmetrical bull's-eye pattern in Gatlinburg, Tenn., on patches of liverwort (a close relative of moss) growing on pine trees that had died and fallen on the ground. At this point, biologists aren't sure what causes the circles. Associated Press photo by Tracey Trumbull

[edit on 5-6-2007 by Xeros]

I had just found that image as well, and was going to post it. Thank you for putting it up.

Here's the link to the original story -

link w/ same photo

It was at the bottom of the page I originally saw. Duh!