Astronauts love gazing at the Eye of the Sahara from space, where it resembles a 40 km-wide flying saucer landing site. In reality, it’s just the remains of a dome that’s taken 100 million years to erode.
Sahara eye. Richat Structure in Western Mauritania. Colorful collage. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.
Photo by depositphotos.com
This circular feature in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania, with a diameter of almost 30 miles, has caught attention since early space missions due to its circular shape in an otherwise featureless desert. Initially thought to be a meteorite impact, it’s now considered a symmetrical uplift revealed by erosion, with Paleozoic quartzites forming the resistant beds. The Richat Structure looks great from above, but not so much from below.
maybe it’s the Earth’s bellybutton?