Crop circle麦田圈.doc

Crop circle麦田圈 Crop circle From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the irrigation method that produces circular fields of crops, see center pivot irrigation. A crop circle in Switzerland. A crop circle is a sizable pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, or rapeseed. Crop circles are also referred to as crop formations, because they are not always circular in shape. Some crop formations are paid for by companies who use them as advertising.[1] Other formations are sometimes claimed by individuals or groups without any evidence to support their assertion, usually after undesirable legal repercussions become unlikely. The remaining crop formations go unclaimed; how and why some of these formations are created remains unknown, these are the main points of contention between those who believe all crop formations are made by humans, and those who do not. The most widely known method for a person or group to construct a crop formation is to tie one end of a rope to an anchor point, and the other end to a board which is used to crush the plants. More recent methods include the use of a lawn roller. However, analysis of stalks, seeds and soil samples at several sites reveal anomalies not consistent with the aforementioned methods.[2] [3] The majority of this research has been carried out by the BLT research team and Collin Andrews, who have both received funding from Laurance Rockefeller. While the exact date crop circles began to appear is unknown, the documented cases have substantially increased from the 1970s to current times. Twenty-six countries ended up reporting approximately ten-thousand crop circles, in the last third of the 20th century, and 90% of those verified were located in southern England.[4] Many of the formations appearing in that area are positioned near ancient monuments, such as Stonehenge. The unclaimed formations appear overnight, but have also been reported appearing du