WHAT ARE THOSE MYSTERIOUS OCEAN FAIRY RINGS IN DENMARK?

 

Mystery has been solved, it seems.  The bizarre circles are caused by sulfurous toxins in the sea. 

 

A holidaying journalist took a photo of the previously mysterious phenomena in the clear water off the Isle of Møn, Denmark

The rings are formed of eelgrass and measure up to 49ft (15m) wide

Biolgists said the ring shapes are created because of the circular pattern in which the grass grows and dies when it is exposed to toxins.

How it happens:  Studying the mud surrounding the bizarre rings, Danish biologists discovered high levels of sulphide, which is poisonous to the grass.  The plants trap the toxic soil so that there is a high concentration around them.  The rings form because of the circular pattern in which eelgrass naturally grows and the toxin killing off older, weaker plants.  Younger eelgrass plants seem to be better at withstanding the toxin than the older plants at the centre of a circular colony, which die and leave a ‘hole’ so that the plants look like rings.  The result is an exceptional circular shape, where only the rim of the circle survives

Danish biologists have confirmed that the circles have ‘nothing to do with either bomb craters or landing marks for aliens’.  Marianne Holmer from the University of Southern Denmark and Jens Borum from the University of Copenhagen also ruled out fairies, ‘who in the old days got the blame for similar phenomena on land,’ they said.

Instead, they believe the rings form because of the circular pattern in which eelgrass naturally grows and the toxin killing off older, weaker plants, according to the journal Marine Biology.  Studying the mud surrounding the bizarre rings, they discovered high levels of sulphide, which is poisonous to the grass and can gradually build up on a chalky seabed, just like Møn’s. 

 

The toxin can also occur if agricultural pollutants leak into the water, NBC News reported.  ‘Most mud gets washed away from the barren, chalky seabed, but like trees trap soil on an exposed hillside, eelgrass plants trap the mud and therefore there will be a high concentration of sulphide-rich mud among the eelgrass plants,’ the biologists said.

 

While the grass might look a little like some types of seaweed, it is a flowering plant that expands outwards to create circular colonies when it grows.  Younger eelgrass plants seem to be better at withstanding the toxin than the older plants at the centre of a circular colony, which die and leave a hole so that the plants look like rings.  Holmer and Borum said: ‘The result is an exceptional circular shape, where only the rim of the circle survives - like fairy rings in a lawn.’
 

The investigation into the underwater rings started when journalist Jacob Topsøe took a photo of them on a private trip at the cliffs of Møn and afterwards wrote an article for regional publication DR Sjælland, which spread though Denmark’s TV channels and newspapers.
 

Some fairy rings on land have been blamed on fungus, but others have baffled scientists, such as those found in the grasslands of Namibia.  Hungry ants, seeping gas and competition for resources have all been blamed for the markings there.

See pictures here -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2551461/Mystery-underwater-fairy-rings-solved-Bizarre-grass-circles-result-poisonous-water.html

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