Scientists discovered some mysterious "fairy circles" in Pilbara, western Australia, where their sudden appearance in the region launched a scientific investigation to determine the real cause of these odd rings. These rings are located a few miles from Newman, which is a small mining town in northwestern Australia.
These fairy circle patches are found in a desert where recent sightings were also confirmed in Namibia in southwest Africa. They are described appearing with patches on bare ground in a consistent hexagon shaped patterns that spans across dry grasslands.
Locals believe that these circles are footprints of deities or spirits, becoming one of the most mysterious and puzzling events for scientists since the 1920s. Some scientists suggest that circles are made from grazing ants or even radioactive gas leaks from the planet's surface.
Recently, these circles were studied by the Helmholtz Centre Environmental Research in Leipzig, in 2014, that were located some 15 kilometers east of Newman's Pilbara region. According to Stephan Getzin from the Center, these extremely perfect hexagonal spacings are similar to a honeycomb as this pattern persists throughout this landscape for more than 100,000 meters. These are also highly unlikely made by insects, as termites and ants are not known to produce an orderly set of pattern.
However, other scientists are unconvinced that insect movement may have generated these rings on the Australian desert soil. Another theory suggests that these circles are generated by plants when they search for water and other nutrients in the barren land. Researchers say that these plants are struggling to reach water sources that forces the landscape to change itself or organize itself into rings when there is scarce water.
To date, these fairy circles are only observed in regions that have the lowest amount of rainfall. These patterns were confirmed by University of Western Australia's Restoration Seed Bank Initiative's Todd Erickson, describing that this bizarre hexagonal pattern of these rings can be seen over the air, flying over Newman.
Erickson adds that these patterns are not seen from ground level, where this pattern consists of six bare patches that possess a diameter of four meters each, scattering within a distance of 10 meters from each other, and encircling a single focal point. He also says that people have known about these circles for years however this is also the first time that scientists began to investigate and map out these circles.