Stare Into the Eye of the Sahara

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Just over 30 miles in diameter, the Richat Structure is a circular unexplained geological formation located in the midst of the Sahara Desert.

Well stare into the eye of the Sahara!

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In the midst of the vast, vacant Sahara desert, just outside of Ouadane, Mauritania, lies a 30-mile wide geological oddity known the Richat Structure.

At close to 50 kilometers in diameter, the Sahara Desert‘s sprawling Richat Structure is one of the most mysterious geological features on Earth.

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Guelb er Richat (aka the Richat Structure or the Eye of the Sahara) is eyepopping when seen from space.

The Richat Structure is situated in Oudane, Mauritania, is a huge circular formation (50 km in diameter – 30 miles), that resembles an eye when looked upon from space. Why the structure is nearly circular, however, remains a mystery.

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The Richat Structure looks like an eye from above. It was thus dubbed the ‘Eye of the Sahara’

Originally thought to be a crater, this volcanic dome is most likely a product of erosion, an ancient geological artifact in the middle of featureless Maur Adrar desert, in Africa’s Western Sahara.

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The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara, is a prominent circular feature located near Ouadane, west-central Mauritania.

The earliest space missions used it as a landmark, the adventurous 4×4 enthusiasts consider it to be their playground, and scientists are still debating its origin. For those “Mad Max” kinds of tourists, there is also a hotel smack in the middle of the Richat Structure.

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There is also a hotel smack in the middle of the Richat Structure.

Here an overview of the different rocks found in the mysterious structure:

Via NASA:

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Some people believe that the Eye of the Sahara is actually the remains of the city of Atlantis, which Plato described as concentric rings of water and land.

Once thought to be an impact crater, the Richat Structure‘s flat middle and lack of shock-altered rock indicates otherwise. The possibility that the Richat Structure was formed by a volcanic eruption also seems improbable because of the lack of a dome of igneous or volcanic rock. Rather, the layered sedimentary rock of the Richat structure is now thought by many to have been caused by uplifted rock sculpted by erosion.

For adventurous travelers, I think the Richat structure is worth a visit.

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8 Comments

  1. Where can I find more information about this hotel in the center of the richat structure?
    Is there a way to communicate with the hotel organization?

  2. Terrible journalism.

    From the article:
    “the Richat Structure is a circular unexplained geological formation”
    “Why the structure is nearly circular, however, remains a mystery.”
    and
    “this volcanic dome is most likely a product of erosion”

    From Wiki:
    “In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano.”

    So, no mystery whatsoever.

    For an actual scientific breakdown of the structure, I recommend – https://geologyscience.com/gallery/eye-of-the-sahara-or-richat-structure/

  3. I believe an alien spaceship struck an impact so hard to imprint in the ground. Not many place in nature can form a perfect shape like that, has to been some kind of compression rings of some kind.

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