The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara due to its peculiar shape, is a singular geographical feature with a diameter of almost 50 kilometers located in said desert , near the city of Ouadane, in northwestern Mauritania.
Shaped like a concentric structure, like an onion cut in half, it was discovered in 1965 by the Gemini 4 space mission of the United States Space Agency (NASA).
The first hypotheses about its origin indicated that it was due to the impact of a meteorite millions of years ago . However, various subsequent studies have not found any evidence of this. At present it is argued that it is a formation with a symmetrical structure of an anticline dome , created by the effect of erosion over millions of years.
The center of the structure is made up of various types of rocks (volcanic rhyolitic, igneous, carbonatite and kimberlite) from up to 2.5 billion years ago (between the Proterozoic to Ordovician eras).
In fact, these types of formations are common and can be found all over the planet (for example, there is one in Huesca, between the towns of Saganta and Estopiñán del Castillo), but this one in the Sahara, being located in the middle of the desert, draws much more attention. . In addition, some layers are harder than others and differential erosion makes it stand out.
Image: United States Geological Survey (USGS)
