Sugar eye. The “Eye of the Sahara” is a geological mystery of Mauritania. Tourist routes of Mauritania

“Güell Er Richat” is a huge ring structure located in the Sahara, which can be seen in full beauty even from space. Some scientists suggest that it is the remains of the ancient mythological city of Atlantis.

The ring structure of Güell Er Richat is hard to miss

The giant rings located in Africa are very difficult to miss from space, astronauts say.

The structure is quite regular and even in shape. This most interesting phenomenon immediately catches the eye, attracting not only its appearance, but also mysterious. It’s hard to believe that it could have a natural origin. That is why some experts believe that “Guel Er Richat” was Atlantis in the distant past.

The ring-shaped phenomenon is located on the edge of the Sahara Desert, which is frightening in its size. Sometimes it serves as a landmark, since nothing similar is observed within a radius of several kilometers from it.

The ring-shaped structure reaches fifty kilometers in diameter. It is often called the “Eye of the Sahara” because of its strange structure: the rings of the structure are located inside each other. Between them there are depressions that may have contained water in the past. NASA satellites photographed the “Eye of the Sahara” a huge number of times, but specialists from the above-mentioned organization were never able to explain the nature of the origin of the anomaly.

Atlantologists - scientists searching for Atlantis, have their own theory regarding the “Eye of the Sahara” rings

Very large number modern atlantologists believe that “Güell-er-Richat” is the remains of Atlantis - a highly developed ancient city that belonged to a mysterious unknown civilization. The dimensions and architecture of the structure's rings almost completely correspond to Plato's description of the ancient city described above.

Plato said that Atlantis had a ring shape, or rather consisted of several rings, three of which were filled with water. The remaining rings, according to the thinker, were empty. The rings of "Güell-er-Richat" are not very distinguishable, but they can be noticed. Plato's theory seems especially plausible given that Atlantis, as he claimed, existed more than ten thousand years ago. From anyone modern city, which for some reason people abandoned, for so many years there would also be nothing left.

Plato described the continent in sufficient detail, the small mountains on it, which allegedly surrounded ancient city in the shape of an island. It should be noted that the terrain of Africa corresponds to this description.

What destroyed the ancient civilization: sweat or an earthquake?

Most legends say that the ancient city sank as a result of a certain cataclysm. Because of this, scientists prefer to look for Atlantis at the bottom, which is very justified. But recently they began to think that Atlantis could have surfaced for certain reasons. Perhaps this is exactly what happened. Due to the long stay under water, of all of Atlantis, only its central city, the largest and most capital, could survive, which may well be “Güell-er-Richat”. This is exactly what the French atlantologist O. Santos thinks.

For example, the territory on which an ancient city was built could be under water due to a powerful earthquake. Over time, thanks to natural tectonic processes, it dried out again. Geologists who have explored the continent claim that it natural conditions changed several times due to the above processes.

Atlantis could have been submerged by water due to a tsunami, which was formed as a result of a collision of a meteorite or asteroid with our planet. This event is shown in the Bible as the “World Flood.” If you believe the legends and myths about the island city found in different parts of the planet, both of the above phenomena occurred almost simultaneously.

How to find traces of an ancient civilization?

It is advisable to look for traces of Atlanteans in Africa. The fact that on the territory of a given country in the past there really was a certain ancient civilization, say even world-respected historians such as Boris Bogaevsky. He claims that traces of the Atlanteans should be sought among the Tauregs. His version is almost completely confirmed by a researcher from Germany, Borchardt, who suggests that the Atlanteans should be looked for in close proximity to Tunisia.

The opinion of geologists looks completely different

Geologists from various countries do not attribute artificial origin to “Güell Er Richat”. In their opinion, the “Eye of the Sahara” formed independently more than 500 million years ago. At that time, people did not yet exist on the planet.

Initially, the official theory about the origin of “Güell-er-Richat” was the one in which it was about a collision with a meteorite or an asteroid, supposedly it was the cosmic body that left such a strange-shaped “imprint”. But this theory is modern times refuted, since no traces of a powerful blow could be found throughout the Guell Er Richat.

In addition to the previous one, the theory about the volcanic origin of “Güell Er Richat” turned out to be implausible, since there have never been active volcanoes and volcanic rocks in that area. Realizing this, scientists began to talk about a mud volcano, which could really leave such traces, but due to the size of the “Eye of the Sahara” one can doubt this option. On at the moment"Guel El Richat" remains an unsolved anomalous phenomenon.

Eye of the Sahara or Richat Structure October 30th, 2012

In the western part of the Sahara Desert - the one that belongs to Mauritania - slightly east of the village of Ouadan there is one of the most amazing and mysterious places on the planet, known as the “Richat structure” or “eye of the Earth”. Mysterious circles, drawn by an unknown force among the monotonous desert landscape, attract an inexhaustible stream of inquisitive travelers.

The age of the geological formation is more than respectable: researchers of the unique object claim that the oldest ring from a series of circles of the Guell-Er-Richat structure is not “younger” than 600,000,000 years. And the size of the “eye” is substantial: the diameter of its outer contour is about 50 km. It is clear that with such an impressive scale, the contours of the rings can only be detected at a significant height from the object.

That is why the unique structure was discovered only with the advent of the space age in 1965. Since then, the eye of the planet has served as a clear guide to astronauts in orbit, and scientists have been puzzling over the nature of this marvelous formation day and night.

Versions.

Version one - the place where the meteorite fell. I did not find confirmation, since there is no depression on the surface of the earth in the center of the structure, as in other places where cosmic bodies fall. And there are no traces of impact on the rocks.

Version two - the mouth of an extinct volcano. The Richat structure is made up of dolomitic sedimentary rocks, and the complete absence of volcanic rocks and a volcanic dome nullified this assumption.
What is the Richat structure? Version three is fantastic. “This is the landing site of aliens,” some say. “Atlantis was here,” others say. But no one can prove either the first or the second.

Version four is the result of erosion. According to scientists, the platform in this place rose and fell, constantly weathering, which led to such a layered formation. To date, this version is the most plausible.

Thanks to images taken from space, there has been a significant breakthrough in geological research. In a relatively short period of time, scientists have been able to identify many places of interest to researchers from various fields. Among all these discoveries, numerous geological formations in the form of rings are of considerable interest, differing not only in size, varying from several hundred meters to 3 thousand kilometers and in age, sometimes reaching the Archean era, estimated in billions of years, but also in their genesis, which put before researchers have discussed a number of controversial issues.

One of these mysteries for scientists was the amazing Moorish soil formation, clearly visible from space. Because of its large size and clear outlines, which give it the vast and lifeless landscapes of the Saharan desert, it has been serving as a kind of beacon for people navigating the endless ocean of space for half a century.

Cosmonaut Valentin Lebedev, examining this geological object, amazing in its almost round shape and unusual structure, from the window of the Salyut-7 station in October 1982, associated it with a children's pyramid assembled from rings of various colors. You can verify the accuracy of this comparison by looking at the picture below.

True, this miracle of nature is in fact not a children's toy at all. The diameter of its outer ring is fifty kilometers, and upon closer examination it does not at all resemble a pyramid. Being directly at this place and contemplating the rocky desert with a series of different lowlands and hills, you can’t even say that it can look so impressive from space.

Apparently, this circumstance was previously the main factor for researchers preventing them from focusing their attention on this, as it turned out, so interesting for its mystery point on our planet. But, as they say, “everything has its time.” Development by humanity outer space, undoubtedly, was also beneficial in the field of knowledge of our home - the Earth.

After all, just think, during his existence man, due to his curiosity, was able to explore almost every corner of our home planet. He discovered many previously unknown islands, conquered the inaccessible peaks of the highest mountains, found a way to lead research papers in the depths of the ocean, overcame the cold of the earth's poles. It seemed that people had explored everything and there was nothing on Earth that was unknown to humanity. But this, as time shows, was just a short flight of stairs leading to the heights of knowledge.

A photograph of the Moorish “pyramid” taken from space half a century ago seriously puzzled scientists. Even after conducting a series of studies, to this day they have not been able to come to a consensus about the reason for the emergence of this geological formation. It, based on the conclusions of the researchers, has a rather unusual structure, which at first glance resembles the site of mining operations that were once carried out here, or a huge crater formed after the fall of a meteorite, and possibly the consequences of an ancient volcanic eruption. According to the conclusions of experts, the age of this geological formation, which received the names “eye of the desert” and “navel of the earth” thanks to the media, is 500-600 million years, that is, theoretically reaches the Proterozoic period.

As is known, at the end of this period there was global change climate of our planet. This coincidence naturally became a significant factor that prompted researchers to put forward the version that the ring-shaped structure of Richat was formed as a result of the fall of a huge meteorite.
However, the attempt of geologists to collect evidence for this hypothesis in subsequent studies was unsuccessful. They were never able to find traces indicating the impact itself and its consequences. In the center of this formation there was also no depression corresponding to the force of the impact, similar to depressions at the sites of the fall of cosmic bodies. In addition, they were unable to explain the presence of not one, but several rings, ideally nested within each other. In order for such a formation to occur, several meteorites had to fall into this place with perfect accuracy, which, of course, is unlikely.

Of all the put forward versions, the most plausible is the volcanic version of the structural formation of Richat.

Scientists, analyzing photographs of this geological artifact with seemingly similar objects on Mars, Mercury and the Moon, have put forward a seemingly irrefutable version of its volcanic origin. They even managed to explain the new type of volcanic formations they discovered thanks to these photographs, called “Ring Structures.” This topic first appeared as a special section in the 1985 textbook “General Geotectonics,” written by A. E. Mikhailov and V. E. Khain.

According to this version, the origin of the Moorish ring structures is explained by centuries-old erosion of the volcano, under the influence of which the current geological artifact was formed.

But subsequent studies forced many scientists to reconsider the evidence of this hypothesis. According to the conclusion of many experts in the field of geology, the Richat structure cannot be the result of a volcanic eruption, because its formation is dominated by sedimentary dolomite rocks and there are absolutely no volcanics, characterized by microscopic sizes of mineral crystals, and effusives. In addition, in its central part, geologists were unable to detect any signs of a volcanic dome.

By the way, why the eye? Yes, because from a certain distance the complex of giant rings amazingly accurately recreates the shape of the pupil of the human eye, framed by the contours of the eyelids. The initial hypothesis was that the planet's waking eye was nothing more than a crater formed as a result of the fall of a giant meteorite. This version still defends its right to exist among possible reasons the appearance of an ancient geological structure.

But the explanations of the supporters of the “crater” theory regarding the flat shape of the bottom of the ring formation do not sound very convincing, to put it mildly. The Richat formation cannot boast of a characteristic depression or traces of impact.

The essence of another version is that the appearance of a geological artifact is the result of a long-standing volcanic eruption. Upon closer examination, this hypothesis does not stand up to criticism: the product of the eruption should have left a dome-shaped imprint of volcanic rocks in memory of itself, but, alas, this is not the case. It’s a pity: the almost perfectly round shape of the mysterious rings would harmoniously fit into the hypothesis of an extinct volcano. In attempts to explain the reason for the appearance of mystical circles, completely fantastic versions were put forward, including the landing of aliens - it is clear that such ideas were shattered to pieces by elementary common sense.

Supporters of the supernatural, who tried to explain the presence of circles by the presence of otherworldly forces, also faced a fiasco: there are no traces of any anomalies in the area of the structure - shepherds have long lived in the mysterious territory and camels graze peacefully, without showing the slightest signs of concern.

The most plausible and tenacious hypothesis was that the eye of the planet was formed as a result of natural geological processes. First there was a rise earth's crust, and then the wind and water flows came into play - it was centuries-old erosion that led to the appearance of an all-seeing eye on the face of the planet. But even this theory does not give comprehensive explanation Richat's strict geometry, so the question of where the regular circles in the middle of the desert came from still remains open. This means that the great discovery of the true origin of the rings of Guell Er Richat awaits us ahead.

"Eye of the Sahara" from space.
Today we will visit another amazing place on our planet. Geological formation in the territory of Mauritania, which is located in Africa, still remains one of greatest mysteries modernity. “Eye of the Sahara”, or in other words, the Richat structure is a perfectly round shape, a flat bottom surface and impressive dimensions (50 km in diameter)…
Before the start Space age The structure of Richat was unknown, because it was the astronauts who first discovered this huge eye that was looking right at them.

The Eye of the Sahara is an ancient geological artifact that lies in the middle of the Maur Adrar Desert in the southwestern Sahara. At first, astronauts used this place as a landmark, and extreme sports enthusiasts in off-road vehicles held their competitions here. Scientists are still arguing about the origin of the Richat structure.

The hotel is located in the center of Richat. The hotel is not luxurious, but the conditions for tourists are quite good. Many travel agencies offer safaris in this area.

Initially, the version was put forward that the Richat structure was the crater of a giant meteorite. However, if a meteorite had actually fallen into this area, the crater floor would not have been flat, so the best explanation to date is that the volcano's dome eroded, which, over time, expanded its rocks, creating what we see today. form.

This photo of the Richat structure was taken from a satellite using the ASTER 7 radiometer, the unusual colors arise as a result of thermal emission. Whatever it is, the spectacle amazes the imagination and attracts the attention of people of art, specialists in environment and natural scientists. This is a sign that our planet never ceases to surprise and shock us.

The news was posted by: Igor Selivanov

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The Richat structure, or the Eye of the Sahara, as this place is also called, is a geological formation with a circular topography in the Mauritanian part of the Sahara Desert near the settlement of Ouadan. Surrounded by thousands of square kilometers of completely lifeless and shapeless desert, this area of 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 this amazing natural object owes to a meteorite that fell to the surface of the Earth hundreds of years ago. However, after a series of studies, this theory had to be considered unconfirmed, and it was replaced by another - about the completely geological origin of the Eye of the Sahara.

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

The Eye of the Sahara is believed to have formed between the late Proterozoic (2.5 billion years) and Ordovician (480 million years). The oldest ring is approximately 600 million years old.

The original version of the origin as a result of a collision with a meteorite was later replaced by a version of a completely geological origin of these concentric circles.

Despite extensive field and laboratory studies that were carried out, geologists were unable to detect convincing evidence, which would indicate the impact of an extraterrestrial object.

Moreover, the Richat structure does not have the ring-shaped depression that characterizes impact sites for meteorites of similar size. The Eye of the Sahara also differs from the meteorite impact sites in that the sedimentary rocks in it occur in their usual, “untouched” form, and not overturned.

According to the latest analytical study of the breccia (a rock consisting of cemented fragments of one or more rocks) of the Richat structure, the carbonate in the silica-rich rocks was formed under the influence of hydrothermal waters, and the structure itself requires special protection and further study of its origin.

For a long time it was believed that this amazing natural object owes its appearance to a meteorite that fell on the surface of the Earth hundreds of years ago. However, after a series of studies, this theory had to be considered unconfirmed, and it was replaced by another - about the completely geological origin of the Eye of the Sahara.

For a long time, since the days of the first space missions, the Richat structure served as a reference point for astronauts in orbit, since among the vast expanse of unremarkable desert it was a clearly visible object.

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

The Eye of the Sahara is believed to have formed between the late Proterozoic (2.5 billion years) and Ordovician (480 million years). The oldest ring is approximately 600 million years old.

The original version of the origin as a result of a collision with a meteorite was later replaced by a version of a completely geological origin of these concentric circles.

Despite extensive field and laboratory studies that were carried out, geoscientists were unable to find convincing evidence that would indicate the impact of an extraterrestrial object.

Moreover, the Richat structure does not have the ring-shaped depression that characterizes impact sites for meteorites of similar size. The Eye of the Sahara also differs from the meteorite impact sites in that the sedimentary rocks in it occur in their usual, “untouched” form, and not overturned.