• Desert fairy circles are circular areas without vegetation.
• They are circular grassland gaps that form a pattern across the Namibia desert.
• Now, scientists claim to have deciphered the phenomenon.

You may have seen gorgeous and inexplicable photographs of Namib desert’s fairy circles. They’ve been around for nearly 50 years.

Southern Africa’s coastal Namib desert. It runs south from the Carunjamba River in Angola to the Olifants River in the Western Cape, South Africa, along the Atlantic shores of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa.

Desert fairy circles are circular areas without vegetation. Grass rings often encircle these 7–49-foot-diameter trees.
These circles have been a mystery for nearly 50 years. Now, scientists claim to have deciphered the phenomenon.
The Namibia coastal desert has millions of fairy circles 80 to 140 km from the coast. They are circular grassland gaps that form a pattern across the desert.

The phenomenon’s cause is unknown. The grass was eaten by termites or the plants were self-organizing.
Studies suggest termites and self-organization may cause fair circles. After comparable circles appeared in Australia in 2019, the explanations were questioned. These weren’t termite-related.

The circles in the ground die and the grass around them survive and flourish due to planted water stress, according to a Göttingen University, Germany, study.

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The investigation was aided by two good rainfall seasons in the Namibia Desert, which killed the grass in the circles.
This disproved termite-caused desert bareness.

The scientists discovered through soil-moisture measurements during the 2020 dry season and 2022 wet season that the grasses around the circles reduced the water within the circles.

“The sudden absence of grass for most areas within the circles cannot be explained by the activity of termites because there was no biomass for these insects to feed on,”  said Dr. Stephan Getzin, Department of Ecosystem Modelling, University of Göttingen.

“But more importantly, we can show that the termites are not responsible because the grasses die immediately after rainfall without any sign of creatures feeding on the root,” he said.

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