SHANTHINI NAIDOO
25 April 2004
Johannesburg — Four-year study into strange rings fails to find any new clues
MYSTERY circles in the Richtersveld area of the Northern Cape and in Namibia have left scientists befuddled.
Professor Gretel van Rooyen of the University of Pretoria's Department of Botany, who led a four-year study into the "fairy circles" - rings of sand between 2m and 15m in diameter which appear only in the desert areas of Southern Africa - said that her team had been unable to explain the phenomenon.
The study, which also involved scientists from the Polytechnic of Namibia in Windhoek, has ruled out termite activity, fungus and radioactivity as possible causes. Human activity has also largely been discounted.
The results have been published in the Journal of Arid Environments and reported in New Scientist.
Van Rooyen said it was still anybody's guess how the circles - which are associated with crop circles - were made.
"We've ruled out the previous theories but there are no sound hypotheses, so we really can't say what it is."
She said some other hypotheses that have been advanced to explain the circles include impact points of broken-up meteorites, and "dust baths" made by zebra or ostriches. However, she refused to subscribe to the notion that aliens were responsible.
"People like to assume that when these kinds of strange things occur, but I am not sure it is aliens," she said.
Van Rooyen said the five-member team had embarked on the study into the rings - which also appear in southern Angola - in 2000 because "they are so fascinating and mysterious".
She said they had tested the soil for radioactivity and plants for toxins, but the tests proved negative. They also tested for termites, but "could not find any increased termite activity in the barren patches".
She said the team had also ruled out the possibility that humans might have created the circles because they appear in remote and inaccessible areas.
Thus far, the only thing known is that the circles appear at unknown times, but remain for long periods.
"We don't know how long they stay, but those marked in 1978 [by a previous study] were still there when we visited," she said.
She said the circles appear in extremely dry areas - where rainfall is between 100mm and 150mm a year - and are physically slightly depressed, but not hollow. "It's still open for explanation. We are continuing with the analysis of the soil and we are also working with people in Namibia."
Dr Willem Jankowitz, dean of natural resources at the Polytechnic of Namibia, said there was much mystery and romance associated with the circles. Urban legend had it that the "ancient people", the Ovahimba, lived in the circles or used them as dance areas.
"But that can't be true because there are thousands and thousands of circles," said Jankowitz.
He said farmers in Namibia believe it is an "outside force" or a subterranean magnetic field that causes the circles to appear.
"They're interesting stories but they aren't really true, because we just don't have scientific proof yet," said Jankowitz.
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