In general , nature does n’t deal in repeated pattern of straight lines . Nature likes jagged fractals , spirals , and vault of heaven . Elongated , full-strength lines are rare .

So when scientists first set eyes upon the sort of zig - zag patterns that have now come along in Iceland ’s Lake Thingvallavatn , they really did n’t know quite what to guess . They ’ve been descry in different ice formation from around the world , but this particularly pattern load for 2 kilometers ( 1.2 miles ) , fit in to the officials work in Thingvellir National Park .

“ Today someone note a foreign looking at pattern in the ice cover which is still unexplained and locals have not date before , ” they write on the park’sFacebook varlet .   “ For the last 15 years solid ice cover on the lake has not formed as solid as in the past due to increasing temperatures . The lake has gathered fond ice natural covering for shorter period and more unstable . ”

The question is , if the water ice cover is thin and fluid , why is n’t it crack moderately more randomly ? Why does it look so unionized in this case ? Are these the cryo - versions of harvest circles or something ?

in reality , this is believably an example of something called “ finger rafting , ” a phenomenon that ’s been document fairly hard in the sea ice of the Arctic and Antarctic regions .

When two slender segments of ice drift towards each other , one tends to slither atop the other . This does n’t happen all that swimmingly , though – some of the ice slides over the other flat solid , whereas other parting descend beneath it .

Peculiarly , this finger rafting physical process tend to form passably symmetric , repetitive patterns of water ice slide above and below . It ’s named after the interlocking pattern of human fingers , quite understandably . These peck have only just started seem in Iceland because the lake ice there nowadays isunprecedentedly thin , which means it can wander around with heady abandon .

So yeah – it ’s not extraterrestrial . Again . Goddamn it , scientific discipline .

Here ’s a minute of bonus etymology for you , though , to make up for a distinct lack of extraterrestrial being . The undersliding submerged ice bits are named“bummocks ” , which are literally the bottom version of icy hummocks , which are humps that protrude upwards . Now there ’s some rummy scientific terminology for you .

[ H / T : ScienceAlert ]