Strange structure in the Sahara desert

In the western Sahara desert - the largest desert on earth, there is a strange geographic structure whose origins remain a mystery to scientists. There are rumors that it may be the legendary Atlantis continent.

Kalb ar-Rishat , also known as 'Sahara eye' or 'African eye' , is a circular geographic structure with a diameter of more than 45 kilometers. The 'Sahara Eye' is located on the desert part of Mauretania, about 25 kilometers east of Wadan city.

According to Business Insider, people do not know the existence of an eye-shaped structure for a millennium due to its massive and mysterious appearance that is difficult to recognize from the ground. Scientists only really know about this wonder when people fly into space.

For the first time, in the early era of space flight, astronauts paid attention to this structure. Currently, it is one of the most photographed subjects, because it is very beautiful from the universe. Recently, Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, has photographed 'Sahara's eyes' from the ISS international space station. His photo caused a real "fever" in the world.

Kalb ar-Rishat - Sahara eye

Scientists question, how does this strange geographical structure appear in the desert. At first it was thought that the structure formed due to collisions with a large meteorite, however later chemical studies showed no meteorite traces.

Kalb ar-rishat taken from Google

Just like in the case of other unexplained phenomena, there are rumors about the unusualness of the structure. Some claim that we have surveys involving the lost continent of Atlantis, described by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. The legendary land, the object of the hunts of researchers around the world, is the current "Sahara eye" .

In Plato 's 'Timaeus' , we know that the Atlantis continent is a large island, bigger than Libya and Asia today combined. This legendary nation dominates the surrounding lands and continues to conquer other places. However, the invasion was stopped by the brave Athenian warriors. The Atlantis continent collapsed unexpectedly. The earthquakes and cataclysms sank the island into the sea. This event is believed to occur in the 9th century BC.

Origin hypothesis The Sahara's eye was accepted by numerous scientists by two Canadian geologists at the end of 2014 in the Journal of African Earth Sciences. Accordingly, Guillaume Matton and Michel Jébrak at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Quebec, Montreal, said that the formation of the eye structure began more than 100 million years ago. At that time, Pangea supercontinent separated by plate tectonics, making the regions now Africa and South America move away.

Molten rock rises to the surface but does not spread but forms a dome consisting of many layers of stone, like a large pimple. This process also creates fault lines around and runs along the eyes. The molten rock also dissolves limestone near the middle of the eye, causing the limestone to collapse and producing a special stone named breccia .

Shortly after that, the eye erupted violently, collapsing a part of the dome. The abrasive effect contributes to perfecting the structure and leading to the present look of the eye. Circles made up of many different rocks erode at different speeds. The lighter circle near the middle of the eye is volcanic rock created by the eruption.

The houses when the family loves the eye-shaped structure because most of the Sahara desert is a vast sand beach. The eye is one of the few important features that helps them to recognize Earth's terrain.