Mysterious Pond Circles in NY Spur Talk of Aliens

Mysterious Pond Circles in NY Spur Talk of Aliens - In the small town of Eden, N.Y., the recent appearance of mysterious circles in a frozen pond has residents baffled.

Last Friday, during an early spring snowstorm, Eden resident Peggy Gervase was looking at the pond near her home when she noticed an unusual pattern in the snow covering the water's surface: large circles that resembled giant polka dots.

Mysterious perfect circles form in snow on pond - Peggy Gervase of Eden, New York spotted an unusual sight in her backyard that she had never witnessed before. Gervase told WGRZ 2 On Your Side that she saw perfect circles in the snow on the surface of a nearby pond. “I’ve never seen this before in our pond…It’s eerie in a way and it’s cool in a way,” Gervase said. Mystified by the odd formations, which resembled crop circles, Gervase snapped several photos and posted them on Facebook looking for an explanation. A link on the WGRZ Facebook page brought comments with varying theories from meteorites to aliens to gaseous ducks and fish. According to her follow up comments, Gervase said that she watched the circles form with no ducks in sight and she laughed off questions of seeing alien lights in the sky. There have been more likely explanations for the pond circles including warmth from the natural spring water that feeds the pond, methane from plants below the surface, or water rising up through small cracks in the ice surface. While a definitive conclusion hasn’t been given for the cause of these pond circles, many are enjoying the peculiar sight.

"I've never seen this before in our pond," Gervase told local TV station WGRZ. "It's eerie in a way, but cool in a way."

After Gervase posted a photograph of the pond circles to the station's Facebook page, respondents offered a number of explanations for the strange circles, including elephant footprints, fish flatulence and aliens.

Though aliens sometimes get the blame for crop circles and other unusual phenomenon, with no real evidence, Gervase isn't buying it. "I'm not that far gone yet," she told WGRZ.

There are more rational explanations: Natural springs often feed ponds with slightly warmer water than the water freezing at the pond's surface during cold weather. As the warmer spring water rises, it would melt the snow and ice on the pond's surface.

Additionally, decaying vegetation on the bottom of the pond could release gases that slowly rise to the surface, creating the polka-dot effect.

Intriguing circular formations are known to occur throughout the natural world during seasonal freeze and thaw cycles.

In areas of permafrost (like the northern Canadian tundra), the expansion of ice beneath the soil surface — a process called frost heaving — creates raised landforms called lithalsas. Lithalsas often form circular or ring-shaped patterns on the surface.

Frost heaving also creates a related landform called a pingo. Over many years, pingos can grow into small, circular hills: The tallest known pingo is the Kadleroshilik Pingo in Alaska, which reaches 178 feet (54 meters) in height. ( LiveScience.com )