New Google Earth images showing a series of mysterious, massive patterns drawn onto China's western desert have prompted a flurry of internet speculation about their purpose, ranging from satellite-weapon targets to messages to – or even from – extra-terrestrials.

The vast, unidentified shapes in Xinjiang and Gansu include kilometre-long reflective strips, blocks of silver squares, concentric circles radiating out hundreds of metres and a grid of tangled white lines that looks like a city layout minus the buildings.

While the guessing game continues on websites like Gizmodo, one certain thing they highlight is humanity's ability to redraw the landscape of even the most remote places.

It was once – inaccurately – believed that the Great Wall is the only man-made structure that could be seen with the naked eye from space. Today, we are now used to satellite images of widening mega cities, deforestation and increasingly tangled transport networks.

The latest images appear to show mining, power and military sites. Two of those under discussion are easily identifible.

This giant blue structure is part of the world's biggest potash fertiliser plant in Lop Nur, which was written about a few years ago in the excellent farwestchina blog. The photograph for its wikipedia entry is indentical, though of course – if you want to keep the conspiracy spirit burning – that does not rule out the possibility that this huge structure conceals something more sinister. More evidently destructive, however, is what looks like an enormous mine on its south-west corner.

Most of the other images are also in or close to Lop Nur, which was China's nuclear testing ground and remains a sensitive military area. Close up, there are clear signs of debris and this image and this one suggest either a silo has exploded or the area has been used for aerial target practice.

Relatively close by, the long blue strips look like runways. Harder to explain are the giant crazy-paving patterns (see also this one). Given the fact that previous Google Earth images showed China has replicated potential war zones in the desert – presumably for training – it is understandable that netizens have tried to map these on to the road networks of Washington DC. But their efforts are far from conclusive.

Similarly, I wonder if any readers can clarify what this is? It looks like it some sort of electricity grid. Several keen-eyed netizens have also noted that not far away, you can find wind turbines.

It is not surprising. In recent years, the old silk road through China's massive deserts has been lined with some of the world's biggest windfarms as the country has invested more than any other in renewable technology. Similarly, there are far more open-cast mines. The turbines and the pits may not look as mysterious as the military targets or as unique as the Great Wall, but they are probably the clearest view from space of China's rising power.