Mysterious Circles in the Adriatic Sea

[Helen of Annoy]

http://www.index.hr/...ce-/746181.aspx

You can see aerial photos on the link above.

In short, aerial photos of parts of Croatian Adriatic coast (Dugi Otok, Unije and Srakane islands) were done, for the purpose of charting the habitat of Adriatic sea species.

Aaand... there are very clearly visible circles in endemic Mediterranean sea weed, called posidonija (Lat. Posidonia oceanica). That sea weed is dark, grows thick and it is not usual or heard of in this area that it would suddenly die and avoid growing back in sharply edged circles.

It does spread in remotely circular fashion, but it does not disappear like that, at least not by itself.

So no one is sure what happened there, suggestions range from the idea it was something that had to do with recently seen UFO above Unije island, to maybe “fishing” with dynamite (laugh on, there are still few morons that “fish” by detonating dynamite and then scooping dead and knocked out fish from the surface).

Dynamite it is not, locals agree, because these circles are 50 metres in diameter while dynamite does 5 to 15 metres damage.

Also, the distance between circles is very even. It would be an artist, not a poacher, said someone. But it's impossible anyone would poach, artistically, with such abominable amount of explosive needed for so large circles without everyone on neighbouring islands hear it. No one remembers any explosions.

The oil engineers and geologists were contacted too and they confirm such circles do not look like exploration for oil or gas, also, there were no such explorations in the area lately and they would be done in different pattern.

So, what was that that “ate” sea weed, leaving only sand on which no weed grows back? I have no idea.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Helen of Annoy

[Taun]

Obviously they are alien kelp crop circles...

[simplybill]

Interesting photos, Helen of Annoy. I hope there are some follow-up studies published.

I looked through the comments section and saw the references to Ancient Aliens and Atlantis, as well as the avatar of the Rebel flag. We truly have become a global community!

[Helen of Annoy]

@ Taun Obviously

On less obvious side, what could they be?

It's not photographic anomaly, divers took a look at few of the circles and yup, only the sand in circles with sharp edges, something posidonija doesn't do.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Helen of Annoy

[Helen of Annoy]

Interesting photos, Helen of Annoy. I hope there are some follow-up studies published.

I looked through the comments section and saw the references to Ancient Aliens and Atlantis, as well as the avatar of the Rebel flag. We truly have become a global community!

Thanks, I'm glad you find them interesting and I too hope for more info. And for more far-out theories too

Edit: speaking of comments, one says: these are holes prepared for hiding the bribe the minister will receive from Norwegian oil companies.

That’s exaggerated, Adriatic does have some oil and natural gas, but Norway has immensely more. Also, Croatia still has raging bribe issues, but the officials are not hiding their loot at all. It floats in form of expensive boats in marinas, does not sit at the bottom of the sea. Yet

Edited May 13, 2014 by Helen of Annoy

[cenobite]

it was me, i was looking for the plug...

[Helen of Annoy]

it was me, i was looking for the plug...

Don’t lie, you were not really looking for the plug, you were there for the weed.

It’s sea weed, cenobite, sea weed...

Edited May 13, 2014 by Helen of Annoy

[simplybill]

I checked Google.com and found this:

http://www.likecroatia.com/news-tips/underwater-circles-ufos-adriatic/

I think this qualifies as a true Unexplained Mystery.

[Helen of Annoy]

No answer yet. Here's the link to some more photos and an article in English with interview with Mosor Prvan from non-profit environmental Sunce Association, who spotted the circles.

http://mashable.com/2014/05/14/mystery-seagrass-circles-croatia/

"If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say military experiments. Posidonia grows slowly, only 2 to 3 centimeters a year, and there's a theory among experts that once you removed a patch of Posidonia like that, it would not grow there again," he said. "Whatever caused this could have happened years ago. So, to determine the cause, the first thing to do would be to find out how old these circles are."

[simplybill]

I wish he had explained why "Military Experiments" were his first guess! I can't imagine how underwater corp circles would benefit the military. Lol

[Helen of Annoy]

I wish he had explained why "Military Experiments" were his first guess! I can't imagine how underwater corp circles would benefit the military. Lol

He didn’t mean our Croatian military today, they are not into bizarre experiments, but the former Yugoslavia, of which we had to be a part for decades, had military too huge, too powerful and too insane.

They were obsessed with building immense structures, such as whole air base underground or whole port inside a coastal hill, various vaste and luxurious shelters fit for the king (life-long president Broz), so it wouldn’t be too insane for them to probe the coasts of islands to see if they can get under the island or bury something into the sea floor along the coast.

That’s why Mosor said it’s necessary to determine how old the circles are. If they originate from 1945-1990, then there’s good chance it was some JNA (ex-Yu military) way to waste resources.

It didn’t have to be military, former socialist state had bizarre views on civil life too. For example, some moron in the 1950s came to conclusion goats are damaging the crops so it was banned by federal laws to keep goats. The true reason was preventing population from having their own sources of milk and meat for the family, but the official reason was that goats are kind of vermin.

So it’s possible some idiot from continental Serbia was offended with Croatian sea grass and wanted it banned by federal law. Hence the experiments with destroying it. Maybe they were scared the inner and the outer enemy could hide in said sea grass and wanted the Adriatic bottom barren. I’m only half kidding here, they were that stupid and that insane.

Some people speculate the circles were left by illegal, secret fish farms, but if we only had 38+ fish farms. Legal or not. Not to mention it’s impossible to have secret fish farming in such small area where everyone knows everything.

That’s what makes these circles mysterious, no one can remember anything that could explain them.

Except UFOs

There’s even official transcript of police communication. Sane and sober officer saw something he described as some kind of hot glowing mass travelling across the sky, leaving trail of glowing round somethings in the trajectory some say is consistent with the strain of circles.

I’m not eager to blame UFO, but our UFO community woke up and brought up some highly amusing theories that include ancient landing sites that were built 20,000 years ago, on dry ground that was later sunk by rising sea level. Personally, I don’t understand why ancient astronauts would need 38 small, round landing sites instead of one bigger, but then again, what do I know of ancient alien engineering

I’m not eager to spit on UFO enthusiasts and their theories either, they might as well be right, because what do we know except that we know so little...

[ChrLzs]

If they are all relatively near to the shore, then I'd simply suggest anchor chain damage might be the answer.. It is quite common in areas where many boats are moored - over time the anchor chains will drag over a circular area from the mooring point (often just a lump of concrete or an old car engine or similar..) eg

https://seagrassmb.w...s.com/2013/02/

Could also be small vents where upwellings are occurring - there could be all sorts of nutrients/poisons welling up from small points, and causing the circular effect. Also, some seagrasses do expand into large circular growths, and if they then die off for whatever reason, it will take time for others to move in. eg

http://www.livingoce...ve-coral-reefs/

It could also simply be pollution from circular shaped fish farms, which have since been moved along. If you doubt that, I strongly suggest you copy/paste this lat/lon into Google Maps and zoom in:

44.005803, 15.059996

Snap!! I used to work with tuna farmers in Pt Lincoln, South Australia, and this was just part of the process... the areas would recover quite quickly. I find it a little hard to believe that these folks dived on these areas and yet took no pictures or samples, and nor did they investigate with the local fishermen / marine experts - I'd lay a sizable bet that some/many people in that region know exactly what they are..

BTW, this island has many weird tesselated paths marked out, that don't seem to have any houses or anything, eg:

44.135469, 14.877268

I note that it also has many underground/underwater bunkers (huge tunnels dug into the island) for hiding submarines, eg:

44.152113, 14.890185

There may be clues amongst that, also.. Fascinating place!

Added PS - having now found all these circles along a very remote part of the coast:

43.801029, 15.349504

I'm leaning to some sort of geological/natural effect - there seems to be no reason why anything would result from human activity along that stretch of coast, with no vehicular access and no obvious significance...

Edited May 15, 2014 by ChrLzs

[Helen of Annoy]

If they are all relatively near to the shore, then I'd simply suggest anchor chain damage might be the answer.. It is quite common in areas where many boats are moored - over time the anchor chains will drag over a circular area from the mooring point (often just a lump of concrete or an old car engine or similar..) eg

https://seagrassmb.w...s.com/2013/02/

Could also be small vents where upwellings are occurring - there could be all sorts of nutrients/poisons welling up from small points, and causing the circular effect. Also, some seagrasses do expand into large circular growths, and if they then die off for whatever reason, it will take time for others to move in. eg

http://www.livingoce...ve-coral-reefs/

It could also simply be pollution from circular shaped fish farms, which have since been moved along. If you doubt that, I strongly suggest you copy/paste this lat/lon into Google Maps and zoom in:

44.005803, 15.059996

Snap!! I used to work with tuna farmers in Pt Lincoln, South Australia, and this was just part of the process... the areas would recover quite quickly. I find it a little hard to believe that these folks dived on these areas and yet took no pictures or samples, and nor did they investigate with the local fishermen / marine experts - I'd lay a sizable bet that some/many people in that region know exactly what they are..

Sound suggestions but these circles are a little stubborn:

Yes, they are all near/relatively near to the shore, but each is 50 metres in diameter, which is too large and too regular for anchor damage. Adriatic sea is quite shallow, by the way, compared to oceans.

Fresh water vents are very common in Adriatic sea (they are called vrulje and large ones make sea water significantly less salty, but not to the point of driving sea life away from these areas). But these circles are all 300 metres away from each other. Too even for natural phenomenon.

This local culture has no concept of secret. Or, our definition of secret is a little different: the secret is something you tell everyone, only in lower voice.

Also, there’s this envy issue, there’s no chance someone who didn’t own illegal fish farm would not scream from the top of the church tower about the illegal farms others are keeping.

The pattern is just too regular, putting illegal fish farms exactly 300 metres away from each other would be a little... strange.

Then, you can see the actual, legal fish farming circles on the other side of Dugi otok (44,002678 15,061732). They’re much smaller, grouped together and the sea floor is as dark as usual under them.

These folks from Sunce Association did dive, took photos, talked to locals and professionals, and got no answer. That’s exactly why the circles are in our news, all usual explanations don’t fit.

BTW, this island has many weird tesselated paths marked out, that don't seem to have any houses or anything, eg:

44.135469, 14.877268

These are traditional patches of farming land, what you see are traditional suhozid (dry stone walls), that serve as fences and keep the soil within vineyards or livestock within your property.

I note that it also has many underground/underwater bunkers (huge tunnels dug into the island) for hiding submarines, eg:

44.152113, 14.890185

That’s just one mini-port for few vessels, civil structure definitely.

There may be clues amongst that, also.. Fascinating place!

Speaking of fascinating, screw man-made tunnels, there are natural caves you can enter only by a boat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Grotto_(Bi%C5%A1evo)

The colour is... surreal.

Added PS - having now found all these circles along a very remote part of the coast:

43.801029, 15.349504

I'm leaning to some sort of geological/natural effect - there seems to be no reason why anything would result from human activity along that stretch of coast, with no vehicular access and no obvious significance...

I also noticed similar circles in similar pattern along Kornat island coast. Maybe it’s some weird thing posidonija does and we didn’t notice it before?

EIther that, either UFO. Don't take UFO possibility away from me just yet!