Eye of the Sahara, geologists continue to fight over the clue of the mysterious object Lands (photo)

2017-10-21 17:03

Eye of the Sahara, geologists continue to fight over the clue of the mysterious object Lands (photo)
It is believed that eye of the Sahara were formed in the period between the late Proterozoic (2.5 billion years old) and Ordovician (480 million years).

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The richat structure, or eye of the Sahara, also known as this place is a geological formation with a circular relief in the Mauritanian part of the Sahara desert near the village of Wadan, reports Rus.Media. Surrounded by thousands of square miles of absolutely lifeless and shapeless desert in this part of the relief in the form of concentric circles with a diameter of 40-50 kilometers is visible even from space.

For a long time it was believed that the origins of this amazing natural feature shall conscious hundreds of years ago on the surface of the Earth by a meteorite. However, after a series of recent studies, this theory had to admit unconfirmed, and she was replaced by another of entirely geological origin of the Eye of the Sahara.

The richat structure is not a trace of the fall of the ancient meteor, as many thought and continue to think. These concentric circles are actually alternating layers of sedimentary, metabolicheskikh and volcanic rocks, formed in a symmetrical anticline under the influence of erosion.

It is believed that eye of the Sahara were formed in the period between the late Proterozoic (2.5 billion years old) and Ordovician (480 million years). The most ancient ring in about 600 million years.

Despite extensive field and laboratory studies that were conducted by the scientists-geologists failed to find conclusive evidence that would indicate the impact of extraterrestrial object.

Moreover, the structure Rishat no annular depression that characterizes the place of a meteorite of similar size. From the fall of the meteorite eye of the Sahara is characterized also by the fact that sedimentary rocks are deposited therein in the usual, “untouched” and not tilted.

For a long time, ever since the first space missions, the richat structure served as a landmark for astronauts in orbit, as well as among the vast expanses of unremarkable desert was well visible object.

According to recent research study of breccias (rock composed of cemented fragments of one or several rocks) of the richat structure, a carbonate-rich silica rocks formed under the influence of hydrothermal waters, and the structure requires special protection and further study of its origin.