Why are the circles elliptical and oriented in a direction? At Prudhoe Bay there are similar looking features shaped by prevailing wind.
Go to this map here and 'scoot'over around the Bahamas...I can make out two possibly more suspicious circles in that area that seem to have some alignment to the Carolina Bays.
Why are the circles elliptical and oriented in a direction?
Angle of impact.
A 90 degree fall (head on / straight in) makes a perfectly round crater.
A 45 degree angle (glancing blow / side swipe) makes a perfect ellipse.
“...Why are the circles elliptical and oriented in a direction? At Prudhoe Bay there are similar looking features shaped by prevailing wind....”
Carolina bays were shaped by the prevailing wind, too, which in this case, is from the southwest. When water tables were seasonally high, the wind blowing from the sw caused waves in the (ponded) bays, having maximum scouring effect along the edges of the bays that were perpendicular to the wind (i.e., NW and SE edges). The scouring caused disaggregation of fines. Then when the water tables dropped seasonally, the fines were picked up by the wind and redeposited offsite.
