Near the Markha River in Arctic Siberia, the earth ripples in ways that scientists do not fully understand.
Earlier this week, NASA researchers posted a series of satellite images of the strange wrinkled landscape on the agency’s Earth Observatory website. Taken with the Landsat 8 satellite over several years, the photos show the land on both sides of the Markha River rippling with alternating dark and light stripes.
The enigmatic effect is visible in all four seasons, but it is most in winter when white snow makes the contrasting pattern even stronger.
The striped whirls confused scientists. (NASA Earth Observatory / Landsat 8)
Why is this particular part of Siberia so syrupy? Scientists are not entirely sure, and several experts have offered NASA conflicting explanations.
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One possible statement was written in the icy ground. This region of the Central Siberian Plateau, according to NASA, spends about 9 percent of the year on permafrost, although it thaws occasionally.
It is known that patches of soil that are constantly freezing, thawing and re-freezing take on strange circular or striped designs called patterned soil, scientists reported in a study published in the January 2003 issue of the journal Science. The effect occurs when soils and rocks naturally sort themselves during the freeze-thaw cycle.
The stripes of the Central Siberian plateau vary according to season. (NASA Earth Observatory)
However, other examples of patterned soil – such as the stone circles of Svalbard, Norway – tend to be much smaller than the stripes seen in Siberia.
Another possible explanation is erosion. Thomas Crafford, a geologist from the US Geological Survey, told NASA that the stripes look like a pattern in sedimentary rocks, known as layered geology.
These patterns occur when snowmelt or rain drips downhill, chopping pieces of sedimentary rocks into piles. The process could reveal plates of sediment that look like slices of a layer cake, Crafford said, with the darker streaks representing steeper areas and the lighter streaks indicating flatter areas.
Consistent with the picture above, these types of sedimentary layers will stand out more in the winter as white snow rests on the flatter areas, making it look even lighter. The pattern is fading as it approaches the river, where sediment accumulates after millions of years of erosion in more uniform mounds along the bank, Crafford added.
According to NASA, it seems to fit well. But until the region can be studied more closely, it will remain one of the most Siberian curiosities.
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This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.