According to scientists, the Richat structure has a diameter of more than 40km, so even though it appeared millions of years ago, humans have never known of its existence. This special geological structure was only discovered by two American astronauts, Jim McDivitt and Ed White, in June 1965 while working on the Gemini 4 spaceship.
Immediately, the giant concentric circles in the middle of the vast desert and the green color of the rock attracted great attention around the world. The structure is called the Eye of the Sahara or the Green Eye of Africa , because of its uncanny resemblance to the human eye when viewed from space.
Initially, scientists thought it was a crater, formed from the impact of a meteorite, but this hypothesis was rejected as soon as no signs of molten rock were found.
The Richat structure is very similar in shape to the human eye. (Photo: Breathforlifetoday).
Many scientists have worked hard to study this structure, many theories have been put forward. Some people believe that it was created by meteorites, or by volcanic deposits. There is even an opinion that the Richat structure is a vestige of an ancient civilization that has disappeared, but all are not recognized.
Today, the most widely known theory is that of two Canadian geologists, Guillaume Matton and Michel Jébrak, put forward in 2014, after conducting a series of in-depth studies. They suggest that the structure was formed from a geological shift more than 100 million years ago.
According to Michel Jébrak, a professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal who specializes in mineral resources, the supercontinent Pangea split, separating Africa and South America. Magma is gradually pushed up to the surface of the earth, but unevenly, creating a dome of rock layers, like a very large "acne" . This also creates fault lines that pass through the eye.
About 100 million years ago, a violent eruption occurred that collapsed this dome. Then, the wear and tear of wind and time did the rest to create the Eye of the Sahara we know today. Each circle has different types of stones, which wear out at different rates. The pale circle near the center of the eye is the volcanic rock created in that explosion.
Location of the Eye of the Sahara as seen from space. (Photo: NASA).
Here, Michel Jébrak also discovered four types of rocks: kimberlites , located about 150km above the Earth's surface, which sometimes contain diamonds; carbonate rocks; black basalt and rhyolite , which are both rocks deep under the Earth's crust.
However, this opinion is still controversial. So far, there is no really convincing reason why the structure has such a perfectly round
Besides the scientific explanation, many theories suggest that the Eye of the Sahara may be the answer to the lost city of Atlantis , a fictional island first mentioned by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. 2,300 years ago.
According to Plato, the utopian island nation existed about 9,000 years before his time and had mysteriously disappeared. Narratives suggest that the city sank into the sea after an earthquake or tsunami. The narratives show that the city of Atlantis on the Mediterranean Sea extended to Crete, the largest island in Greece. Edgar Cayce, an American Christian mystic, thinks that Atlantis and Eurasia are about the same size.
There is a theory that the eye of the Sahara may be the solution to the lost city of Atlantis. (Illustration).
Plato describes Atlantis as having a central island surrounded by various rings - including rings made of water very similar to the Eye of the Sahara. Researchers even believe that a large amount of water once escaped from the Eye of the Sahara, suggesting it may have once been surrounded by water like Atlantis.
According to legend, the city of Atlantis was built by the sea god Poseidon. He traveled the world looking for the largest island until he found Atlantis, inhabited by the most beautiful and intelligent people in the world. Here, the god fell in love with Cleito. To protect his lover, Poseidon placed the city on top of an isolated hill in the middle of the sea and named it Atlantis.
Coincidentally, the Eye of the Sahara is also described as "in the shadow of the mountains to the north, where rivers flow down a wide valley" in a similarity to the supposed final location. of Atlantis.
Although many people still consider Atlantis to be a myth, many theories suggest that the allegory is based on real events. Meanwhile, there is no really convincing reason why the Eye of the Sahara has such a perfectly round shape.
Seeing the full “eye” is something only a few of the billions of people on Earth have the opportunity to. Those are astronauts, scientists performing space missions, but there are still many tourists and researchers who want to set foot in this strange land.
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