namibian "fairy circles" = crop circles?

just found this article on what scientists in South Africa have dubbed 'fairy circles'. the pic looks similar to pics of crop circles i have seen, and they also mention that crops no longer grow in the circles, and that botanists have explored several theories, and haven't been able to explain these phenomena. not much of a read, but this shows that crop circles appear all over, but they often go unreported.

link

that's really interesting, I cant tell from the picture provided on that page if it's man made or not but still seems a bit odd nonetheless. correct me if I'm wrong but in crop circles, I thought that the crops would grow back in the area?

This relatively short article may be the answer to those "fairy circles":
Ring-a-round a fungus

The feature that seems most similar to the Namibian phenomenon is that the first visible evidence of a new fairy ring is a circle of stimulated grass that develops on the nitrogen released after the fungus breaks down organic matter in the soil. Fairy rings are caused by several soil-inhabiting fungi that feed on organic matter in the soil. These dark green or brown circular rings, a few centimetres to 15 metres in diameter, are caused when a fungus grows outward from a central point. If it meets another ring it stops growing, resulting in a scalloped ring.

A ring of brown or dead grass may also develop due to a dense growth of white mycelium that does not allow water to penetrate. Mushrooms can develop in a circle outside the dark green or brown ring after autumn rain - assuming, of course, that the little folk danced sufficiently well the night before.

*picture of the Namibian "fairy circles"*



seekerof

[Edited on 9-5-2004 by Seekerof]

As someone who has communicated with one of the leading professors in South Africa on the fields, I can tell you a small bit on it.

An idea I came up with, which they haven't gotten rid of yet, and obviously came up with long before I spoke with them, is that a large single asteroid, or a large group of meteorites, carrying material that was slightly toxic, struck the earth's atmosphere and broke into many many fragments. These fragments would have spread over a small impact radius the toxic material, and over a slightly larger radius the heat of the impact would have freed a considerable amount of trapped nitrates, stimulating growth around the rim of the crater, while the toxic area in the center would wipe out the plants, and due to the type of plants in the area would not have seeded well ever after, and would have remained bare. We have now, a field of circular impact sites that lay bare with high-growth rims.

Anyrate, she said the idea had arisen before, and there was still being testing done on all possibilities.