The“Richat Structure”

The eye of the Sahara is located west of Mauritania. This formation stretches for more than 40 km-wide, enclosed by the Atlantic Ocean. It was first photographed by Gemini astronauts who used it as a landmark in the 1960s. They could see a geological art piece shaped distinctly as an eye in the middle. It’s so big and unique that it serves as a landmark for astronauts. The satellite showed an almost symmetrical circular crater with rings of elevated and lower grounds collapsing in on itself, creating uniform ripples. Some of its rocks are also covered in blue coloration, a beautiful complimentary color sight against the golden sand.

At first, Geologists believed that the eye of the Sahara was a blow crater that was created when an object from space struck the surface, such as a meteor. Some even theorized that it was an ancient dried-up ground volcano. However, the long studies of rocks within the structure didn’t uncover enough melted rock, proving to be entirely terrestrial (earthly). Scientists were puzzled how such a marvel was formed right here on planet earth without outer space intervention. Most scientists will tell you that the structure is in fact a deeply eroded geologic dome that formed more than a hundred million years ago when the churning landmasses that made up Africa originally (the separation of the supercontinent Pangea) caused the lithosphere, that’s the crust and upper mantle of the Earth’s surface to weaken and split.

This sudden weakness allowed the dome to rise up as magma swelled way below the surface. Geologists name this kind of uplift an anticline, basically an enormous fold of rock sticking up from its other surroundings. Because of the different rock layers and their resistance, the circular formations were shaped with multiple depths.

Scientists hypothesized that in the past, the Sahara was not a lifeless, arid land, on a number of occasions even. The last time was between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago. Back then, the tropics received more radiation from the sun, and summer and winter rains reached into the heart of this now barren land. On rock faces deep in the desert, prehistoric artists had scratched or painted evocative scenes of long-lost people herding cattle, as well as images of giraffes, hippos and elephants, similar to the savannas. Artefacts and tools that belonged to the nomads who possibly inhabited the area were found underneath the sand and in the Atlantic ocean. Also, a huge reservoir of pure water was found, which clearly was not part of any of the ancient seas. It turned out to be left from an ancient lake formed about 250,000 years ago when the Nile broke through a low channel in the area of today’s Wadi Toshka bay on Lake Nasser.

The most shocking truth is that fossils of fish and the ancestors of today’s whales the Basilosaurus, lived there in great numbers. Their huge fossilized remains were discovered during the excavations of Wadi al-Hitan in Egypt. The bones of these animals remained at the bottom of the ocean for millions of years until the ocean gradually disappeared, and the ocean land rose up, transforming into early versions of the Mediterranean and Black seas. The Sahara is sometimes called the valley of the whale. Moreover, one of the most sensational dinosaur discoveries were found in 2016, now called Mansourasaurus

This leads us to a controversial theory at best; that the eye was eroded by a massive flood, and this is where it gets interesting.

Plato further mentions that Atlantis had an abundance of metal, copper and gold - also Mauritania’s main export. He described that the island was covered in reddish and blue rocks, also found all around the eye. The story started when the Greek God Poseidon, sent his 10 children to rule 10 kingdoms of the Empire of Atlantis. The first king of its capital was called Atlas, and the first ruler of Mauritania, was also named Atlas. Little is it known, but the tale also came from the Ancient Egyptians, as they have carved in stone, that survivors of an old and sophisticated civilization travelled to the Nile when their island was fully obliterated by an ill-omened natural catastrophe.

Of course, these are all just speculations, and many would argue that it probably existed as part of Santorini, where the legend started. But since no remains have been found, and due to the huge time difference since its disappearance, any reliability of something being found in a certain location falls short. The truth of the matter is that the blue eye of the Sahara holds a legacy of secrets. More of its surrounding is still being uncovered until today; deserts are unexplored places of wonder.

This structure is around a 100 million years old, which is a phenomenal amount of time to have viewed many changes in the earth’s cycles. It lived through meteor strikes, disastrous floods and witnessed the time the Sahara Desert was a blooming savannah full of rivers, animals and dinosaurs. Some documentaries even suggest it may have been the capital of the lost city of Atlantis, due to its very close geological resemblance. Flying Atlantean letters (according to Disney) rain down from the Atlantis circle as it is about to be fixed in its rightful spot. A magician portals in holding a crystal ball and shines a light at the eye to see with her own eyes the fascinating prehistoric world before us.