The Earth contains many wonders, and such is the scale of some that they cannot be fully appreciated from the ground. That’s why we’re urging you to take a casual trip to space, look down at the Sahara Desert, and behold the big, beautiful blue eye staring back at you.
Just over 30 miles in diameter, the Richat Structure is a circular unexplained geological formation located in the midst of the Sahara Desert.
At close to 50 kilometers in diameter, the Sahara Desert‘s sprawling Richat Structure is one of the most mysterious geological features on Earth.
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.
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.
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.
Some people are amazed by the resemblance of this structure with the representation we have of Atlantis by Plato. According to Plato, the island was circular, divided into concentric circles of land and water: “There were 2 of land and 3 of water… Atlantis when sunk by the earthquake became an impossible barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean…” And he spoke about a mount sheltering the city by North and “and encompassing a great plain of an oblong shape in the south “…etc… Atlantis in Greek means Atlantis, nesos : the island of Atlas. And we get near the geologic eye at the North the Mount Atlas. According to Plato, Atlantis was lying “in front of the Pillars of Hercule”, and we are there just in front from South and not beside from East or West as many authors are searching…
