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Name : Eye of the Sahara
Location : Adrar Plateau , Mauritania
The Richat Structure has been described as looking like a giant slice of onion, a bullseye and an oversized ammonite.
Coordinates:21.114714464479544 , -11.394300583868517
Why it ’s unbelievable : The eye is so boastful you may see it from place .
The " Eye of the Sahara " — also known as the " Eye of Africa " or the Richat structure — is a giant rock dome , carve with concentrical halo , that looks like a jumbo bullseye when seen from above . The center is visible from space and has been love to astronauts and scientists since the earliest crew missions in the 1950s , fit in to theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) .
A view from space of the Eye of the Sahara shows the surrounding sand dunes, which are part of the Erg Oudane.
estimation of the Eye of the Sahara ’s dimensions range from 25 to 31 miles ( 40 to 50 kilometers ) in diameter . The heart forms a near - thoroughgoing circle in the desert of Mauritania , which initially lead scientist to think it was an encroachment structure from a meteoroid . However , subsequentresearchfound the dome was shaped by tectonic upheaval during theCretaceous period(between 145 and 66 million years ago ) and position bare through erosion .
The Eye of the Sahara stands out like an oversized ammonoid among an immense ocean of sand have a go at it as the Erg Oudane , which stretch rough 350 mi ( 560 km ) Orient to Mali . Ergs are area of desert that dyad at least 48 square miles ( 125 solid kilometers ) and featurewind - sweep sands with little to no vegetation . The center towers about 660 foot ( 200 meters ) above the surrounding sands , which rise against its southerly bound and occasionally obscure parts of the bodily structure in photographs , according to ESA .
Related : Mystery of tremendous Saharan ' star sand dune ' finally solve — and it was n’t what scientists were expect
The gist of the Eye of the Sahara is a round plateau of limestone and breccias — aqueous rocks with with child , broken fragments that are cement together by a fine - ingrain ground substance — according to a 2021study . The rest period of the eye slopes down from this plateau in a circular pattern of ridge and grooves that have been sculpted by malarky and water over the eons . The ridges are mostly made of resistant quartzite , while the grooves consist of less - resistant sedimentary stone that wear out away more quickly .
The reason why the optic is so round remains unclear , according to theLunar and Planetary Institute . Erosion has expose four type of igneous rock — gabbro , rhyolites , carbonatites andkimberlites — which are younger than the center of the eye , indicating that jet of liquefied rock candy rose and solidify at the aerofoil . Several faults are also visible on the forbidden ring of the eye , propose thatlayers of rock and roll shift apartin the process .
The Eye of the Sahara is a geologic marvel , but it also holds archaeological implication , allot toGeographical , a magazine published by the U.K. ’s Royal Geographical Society . excavation have unveiled 2 - million - yr - older Acheulean and pre - Acheulean tools that are colligate with two coinage of ancient human ancestors : Homo erectusandHomo heidelbergensis .
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Proponents of the debunked myth ofAtlantis — a " lost " island subcontinent idealized by some as an in advance , utopian society — arrogate the Eye of the Sahara is evidence of the citydescribed by Plato in his " Timaeus " and " Critias " dialogue .
But " together , mod archaeology and geology provide an univocal verdict , " Ken Feder , a professor emeritus of archaeology at Central Connecticut State University , previously separate Live Science . " There was no expectant refinement call Atlantis . "
There ’s no need to turn to mythology for answer when geology provides enough of its own .
Discover moreincredible place , where we highlight the fantastic history and science behind some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth .
