http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49677085/ns/technology_and_science-science/#__utma=14933801.1381813860.1342392950.1351992603.1351999289.892&__utmb=14933801.26.10.1351999289&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1351575255.856.12.utmcsr=msnbc.msn.com|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/id/49593609/ns/weather/&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned By=msnbc|cover=1^12=Landing Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing Hostname=www.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit Type to Content=Internal to Mixed=1&__utmk=76578197&__utma=14933801.1381813860.1342392950.1351992603.1351999289.892&__utmb=14933801.26.10.1351999289&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1351575255.856.12.utmcsr=msnbc.msn.com|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/id/49593609/ns/weather/&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1^12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Internal%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=76578197“A mysterious grid of dots spanning several miles of Western China’s sand dunes like a giant chessboard may be the result of geological surveys for nickel mines, according to new analysis of satellite images of the area.

“In the satellite maps, we can see a man-made texture on the soil, a huge band which seems created by relatively small holes or mounds,” wrote the study author, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a physicist at Italy’s Polytechnic University of Turin, on Oct. 25 on the website arXiv.org, ahead of publication to a scientific journal. “This curious texture on the desert soil was probably produced by the pinpointing of geophysical [research].”