Nature is always full of mysteries that scientists still cannot explain. They have a majestic appearance and mysterious origin, attracting people's attention and urging them to explore these mysteries.
One of them is the mystery of the Eye of the Sahara with its enormous size and beautiful wavy lines.
The majestic structure of the eye of the Sahara
The Eye of the Sahara was formerly known as the Richat Structure, located in Mauritania, in northwest Africa.
It is a whopping 30 miles in diameter and is estimated to have formed between 1 billion and 542 million years ago in the late Proterozoic.
Some people believe that it is the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis because some of the structures have similarities to the land of Atlantis.
One of the famous things about the Eye of the Sahara is that its enormous size can be observed from space.
NASA has stated that the origin of the Richat Structure was once thought to be the result of a collision event with large meteorites, creating the familiar circular shape.
Theories about the strange structure of the eye of the Sahara
The strange structure of the Sahara's eye has always been a subject of interest to experts, posing countless surprising theories about its formation.
The structure of the Sahara's eye is believed to have undergone a process called "folding" that created antisymmetrical lines.
This process occurs if tectonic forces act on sedimentary rocks from two sides. In this case, if the ice is cold and brittle, it will break, but if it is warm enough, it will create folds.
Upward folds are known as anticlines while downward folds are known as anticlines.
Experts initially claimed it was a raised geological dome. Erosion rates vary between different rock types, causing circular veins called Cuestas to become exposed gradually.
Another theory about the formation of the Eye of the Sahara
In 2014, a paper published in the African Journal of Earth Sciences suggested that the presence of volcanic rocks played an important part in the formation of the eye of the Sahara.
The presence of volcanic rock caused the molten rock to be pushed to the surface, forming domes and eroding over the centuries, giving them the shape we see today.
In addition, the separation of the supercontinent Pangea also contributed greatly to the formation of volcanoes and caused it to move more than it initially did.
The Eye of the Sahara remains a mystery
However, their theories are just guesses based on fragmentary data obtained from this place. So, the Eye of the Sahara remains a mysterious structure for humans.
With its special origin and majestic structure, the Eye of the Sahara was recognized as one of the first 100 geological heritage sites by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in 2022.
