This prominent circular feature, with a diameter of almost 30 miles, in the Sahara (desert) of Mauritania has attracted the attention of space missions. It forms a conspicuous bull’s-eye in the vast expanse of the desert. It was earlier thought to be a meteorite impact structure because of its high degree of circularity. It is now thought to be merely a symmetrical uplift caused by erosion. But the fact that the ‘rings’ are equidistant to the centre and that the Richat Structure or Eye of the Sahara and Guelb er Richat is nearly circular remains a mystery. The resemblance of this structure with the representation we have of ‘Atlantis’ by Plato is amazing.
Richat Structure
