Crop Circles continue to confuse us over their origin. Beautiful, symmetrical, inexplicable, mathematical, and magnificent, they are one of the modern world wonders. Many people thought they were the creation of alien visitors. Some thought they were mysterious forces and unknown energies. Meanwhile sceptics thought they were man-made.
What should one think?
Crop circle designs etched into the fields of wheat and corn usually appear overnight.
So what are they? Some opinions...
Whirlwind or plasma. A vortex forming above the ground breaks to ground level like a tornado - an early theory.
Plasma Gravitational. A directed plasma accompanied by light phenomena.
Earth Energies. Ley line geomagnetic activities act as a vital current flowing around the earth.
Extra Terrestrial Origin. Crop circles here are markers or landing craft patterns for intelligent extra terrestrial visitors.
Underground Archeological. Crop circles being caused by a form of underground energies. The circles often appearing close to sacred sites.
Hoaxes. Crop circles being man-made pranks and expressions of creativity.
Military Experimentation. Caused by secret military (high-burst microwaves) experiments.
There is an incredible and simple beauty in the way in which the crop has been spiralled and simultaneously pressed flat to the ground without breaking the stems. The edge of the circle is so precise and sharp that stems lying adjacent to the circle stems remain untouched and vertical outside the circle. Terence Meaden's book, The Circles Effect and its Mysteries is illustrated with black-and-white photographs, and presents a scientific approach aiming for a credible and scientific explanation of how the circles are formed. He describes suggests that the circles being formed by the impact of a body of fast-spinning air that has been partially ionised. He explains how a columnar atmospheric vortex, with a vertical or inclined axis, provides the channel for the formation of a plasma (ionised gas) vortex and for its conduction towards the ground. The ionisation of the air being sufficient to make the vortex luminous at night and the fast spin leading to a ball-shaped vortex. Meaden holds that vortices or turbulent air form a few hundred metres above ground downwind of hillsides. When these eddies break down, they move closer to the ground forming doughnut-shaped eddies that sweep out the circles in the crops. ‘There might be 500 different combinations, of which we see only a selection in any one season,’ said Meaden. ‘This doesn’t mean that the cause of the phenomenon is changing.’ He said that although single circles are the most common, accounting for about 90 per cent of the features reported, the complex patterns – ones with peripheral rings, for example provide more information. ‘Our lack of knowledge about the behaviour of the atmosphere is the main thing holding us back,’ he said. ‘Until a year ago, it was not known that a single columned vortex could split into three different vortices and still be stable.’ These separate vortices explain the unusual crop circles. Hiroshi Kikuchi, a leading Japanese physicist, told delegates that new theories are required to account for the electromagnetic properties of vortices. He thinks that scientists need to elaborate on the processes that produce charged particles in swirling air.
A professor at a Tokyo university thinks that the circles may be the result of electromagnetic forces creating ‘plasma fireballs’ similar to ball lightning. Professor Yoshihiko Ohtsuki is quoted as saying, ‘The circles are caused by an elastic plasma, which is a very strong form of ionised air.’ When the reballs are formed, there is a strong downward pressure and that flattens the corn in a circular area.