世界匪夷所思的自然現象:納米比亞精靈圈

Across the arid grasslands of the Namib Desert lies an eerie sight: millions of circular patches of land void of plants, each between 2m and 15m in diameter, arranged in a honeycomb-like pattern across 2,500km of land. These disks of bare soil, known as fairy circles, pockmark the landscape in Namibia, as if giant moths ate through the vast carpets of grassland.

在荒蕪的納米布沙漠中，有一樣怪異的景觀：在寸草不生的土地上有數百萬的圓形補丁，每每相隔2到15米的直徑，在縱橫2500千米的沙漠中聚集成蜂巢形狀。在納米比亞，這些被稱爲精靈圈的沙碟塑造出凹痕景觀，就好像巨型蛾子在大片沙漠毯子上肆虐吞食。

Adding to the mystery, no one knows for certain what causes these otherworldly formations, writes Quora user Prem Rathaur. But there’s no shortage of theories.

更爲神祕的是，沒有人知道這鬼斧神差般傑作的成因，Quora用戶普雷姆•拉索爾這樣寫道。但是一直有很多關於它的理論。

Scientists have suggested radioactive soil, or that toxins released from plants kills the vegetation in circular patterns. Others believe the circles are the work of sand termites. To store water, they burrow in the soil in ring-like patterns and consume the roots of vegetation to allow underlying grains of sand to absorb falling rain.

科學家們考慮過是放射性土壤導致的，或者是某種植物釋放的毒素殺死了圓形植被造成的。有人則認爲是沙地中的白蟻搗的鬼。爲了儲存水，他們在土壤中挖出環狀凹坑，吮食植物根莖，以便下層沙粒能夠吸收降水。

Another hypothesis ascribes the circles to competition for resources. In harsh landscapes, plants compete for water and nutrients. As weaker plants die and stronger ones grow, vegetation “self-organizes” into unusual patterns.

另一種猜測認爲這些環狀物與資源爭奪相關。在艱苦的條件下，植物爲水分和養分而相互爭鬥。在適者生存的過程中，植被自我調節到這種不尋常的模式。

Considering the eerie beauty of these phenomena, perhaps the most fitting theory is that of local bushmen, who say fairy circles are nothing less than the footprints of gods.

而對於這怪異而美麗的自然現象，大概能給出最合適的解釋的是當地的布須曼人——他們說精靈圈是上帝的腳印。