The grassy Namibian desert is pock-marked with millions of circular patches of bare earth just like these shown in the picture between linear dunes.
Viewed from a balloon, they make the ground look like a moonscape. Commonly known as fairy circles, the patches range from two to 12 metres across and appear in a 2000 kilometre strip that stretches from Angola to South Africa.
For many decades, the fairy circles extending uniformly over vast areas in the landscape, have puzzled laymen and scientists alike. They are subject to a lively debate and contrary hypotheses on their origin exist. Some researchers claim fairy circles were caused by termites, others propose they are the result of vegetation self-organization.
Description by Hezi Yizhaq, as it first appeared on imaggeo.egu.eu.
Imaggeo is the EGU’s online open access geosciences image repository. All geoscientists (and others) can submit their photographs and videos to this repository and, since it is open access, these images can be used for free by scientists for their presentations or publications, by educators and the general public, and some images can even be used freely for commercial purposes. Photographers also retain full rights of use, as Imaggeo images are licensed and distributed by the EGU under a Creative Commons licence. Submit your photos at http://imaggeo.egu.eu/upload/.
