Seen from space, nobody knows what it is

[shadowstalker]

What on Earth is that? The Richat Structure in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania is easily visible from space because it is nearly 50 kilometers across. Once thought to be an impact crater, theRichat Structure‘s flat middle and lack of shock-altered rock indicates otherwise. The possibility that the Richat Structure was formed by a volcanic eruption also seems improbable because of the lack of a dome of igneous or volcanic rock. Rather, the layered sedimentary rock of the Richat structure is now thought by many to have been caused by uplifted rock sculpted by erosion. The above image was captured by the ASTER instruments onboard the orbiting orbiting Terra satellite. Why the Richat Structure is nearly circular remains a mystery.

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

[InCiDeR]

Time for the obligatory Atlantis speculation:

(...)Some people are amazed by the resemblance of this structure with the representation we have of Atlantis by Plato. According to Plato, the island was circular, divided into concentric circles of land and water: "There were 2 of land and 3 of water... Atlantis when sunk by the earthquake became an impossible barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean..." And he spoke about a mount sheltering the city by North and "and encompassing a great plain of an oblong shape in the south "...etc... Atlantis in Greek means Atlantis, nesos : the island of Atlas. And we get near the geologic eye at the North the Mount Atlas. According to Plato, Atlantis was lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercule", and we are there just in front from South and not beside from East or West as many authors are searching...(...)

Source/read more

[Sidney]

Looks like some kind of mining operation to me. Hm weird.

[RMorgan]

Really intriguing, indeed.

The most accepted theory about it, is that it is a volcanic bulge that never erupted and was leveled by erosion, but such theory is not completely validated yet.

Anyway, it´s not man made; This is already proved beyond any doubt.

Here are some other pictures:





Raf.

[norman]

If that was in Britain it would be called a site of an ancient settlement.

As it's in the Sahara, there may be political reasons to avoid such a label.

Errr... Didn't someone say that 5K old man was once engaged in 'creating money' in a city state in the region that's now the Sahara desert?

[ghostrider]

looks like a huge asteroid impact , followed by a smaller one, then another, then another ... all in exactly the same spot ... could it be from an ancient atomic war ??? that area could have been lush with green trees and such, until the madness of war, then nothing but desert ... pure speculation...

[Nanoo Nanoo]

This a natural earth energy centre. If you were to stand in the middle of this structure you would be zapped with the energy of the mother earth. I have found these in my bush walks and i take people to them for energy healing.

I was in the bush one day and riding my trusty mountain bike when i saw a smaller version of this we see in the picrure. When i say smaller i mean it was about 4 foot wide. I almost fell off my bike because of the energy it eminated.

SO i stood on it and breathed in and man og man i felt like elvis presley ! i was shakin to blue chakra shoes !

Since then i have researched these and they are indeed all over the world. Perhaps a weakness in the crust as the planet formed and was vibrated by a frequency which created waves upon the soft molten crust because of an energy conduit eminated from the earths core. These rings are like a pebble being dropped in a pond except the pebble came from within.

If you ever see one be sure to stand in the middle of it , put your left hand up and your right hand on your heart chakra and you will feel a macrocosmic orbit happen. Be careful it can be intense.

Naniu

PS

We can see the inner most circle is convex , meaning the pressure or force that formed it came from within. If it were concave then yes it may have been an asteroid.

I believe when the crust was molten , gasses from beneath bubbled up and made like a ripple pool ... the reason they have intense energy is two reasons.

1 they are a circle ( which in its self has power )

2 It is formed as a talisman in a furnace with new born intent carried by the lava.The energies of the planet when it was forming were celstially pure and new ,hence why they have such an energy emination.

3 the gasses beneath the surface came from clear conduits of earth energy which would still be there so the energy of the earth would have a greater propensity to eminate from such a structure.

[fourty-two]

Perhaps it is the result of ancient weapons

[lookbeyond]

I think its beautiful

[InCiDeR]

Some more information:

The formation of this structure initially was attributed to a meteorite impact due to its resemblance to a crater. Geologists now theorize that the structure is a result of different types of rocks being eroded at different rates of erosion. This theory "holds water" as igneous rocks within the structure are more resistant to erosion than the host sedimentary rocks.

The age of sedimentary rocks that surround Richat range in age from Late Proterozoic (2.5 billion years) to Ordovician (480 million years).

The interior of the Richat Structure itself contains the following rock types:

• Rhyolitic volcanic rocks – Consist of hydrothermally altered tuffaceous rocks and lava flows. These are from two different volcanic centres, remnants of two maars (low-relief volcanic crater).

• Gabbroic Rocks – These rocks form two concentric ring dikes. The inner ring is approximately 3 km from the centre and has a diameter of about 20m. The outer ring is about 8km from the centre and 50m in diameter.

• Carbonatite Rocks – are a rare type of calcium-rich igneous rock. These intruded and cooled between 94 to 104 million years ago. Within the Richat structure, 32 carbonatite dikes and sills have been mapped.

• Kimberlites – Igneous rocks of deep earth origin and potentially diamond hosting. Kimberlites occur in the northern area within Richat, including a kimberlitic plug and a few sills.

This formation is believed to be the remnants of a dome, a deformational feature made up of symmetrically-dipping anticlines (see here for an explanation on synclines and anticlines). The desert weather caused the dome to shed various layers, flattening the structure.

The interior of the Richat structure contains rhyolitic volcanic rocks, gabbros, carbonatites and kimberlites. The rhyolitic rock is made up of lava flows and hydrothermally altered tuffaceous rocks, which in turn are part of two distinct eruptive centres, interpreted to be the eroded remains of two maars.

Thirty-two carbonatite dikes and sills have been mapped within the Richat structure; the dikes are generally about 300 m long and about 1 to 4 m wide. The carbonatite rocks have been dated as having cooled 94 to 104 million years ago. A kimberlite plug found in the northern region of the Richat structure has been dated at 99 million years old.

The sedimentary rocks exposed in the dome range in age from Late Proterozoic (2.5 billion years) within the centre to Ordovician sandstone (480 million years) around the edges. These sedimentary rocks dip outward at 10°-20°, and Paleozoic quartzites form the resistant beds outlining the structure.

The centre of the dome consists of a siliceous breccia covering an area that is at least 3 km in diameter; it varies in thickness from 40 metres thick in the centre to a few metres along the edges. The breccia is made up of fragments of chert, quartz-rich sandstone, diagenetic cherty nodules, and stromatolitic limestone. The hydrothermal alteration, which created this breccia, has been dated to have occurred about 98.2 ± 2.6 million years ago.

It was initially believed to be a crater due to its circularity and the presence of coesite, an indicator of shock metamorphism, in rock samples collected from the Richat structure. However further analysis of rock samples showed that barite had been misidentified as coesite.

Source

Richat Structure is not the site of an ancient meteor crater, as many people originally postulated. These concentric circles are actually alternating layers of sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks that were pushed upward in a symmetrical anticline, geologic dome, from below due to a small incursion of magma. The structure is a deeply eroded. The sedimentary rock exposed in this dome range in age from Late Proterozoic (2.5 billion years) within the center of the dome to Ordovician (480 million years) sandstone around its edges.

Initially interpreted as an asteroid impact structure because of its high degree of circularity, it is now argued to be a highly symmetrical and deeply eroded geologic dome. Despite extensive field and laboratory studies, geologists have found a lack of any credible evidence for shock metamorphism or any type of deformation indicative of an extraterrestrial impact.


In addition, the Richat structure lacks the annular depression that characterize large extraterrestrial impact structures of this size. Also, it is quite different from large extraterrestrial impact structures in that the sedimentary strata comprising this structure is remarkably intact and "orderly" and lacking in overturned, steeply dipping strata or disoriented blocks.

A more recent multianalytical study on the Richat megabreccias concluded that carbonates within the silica-rich megabreccias were created by low-temperature hydrothermal waters, and that the structure requires special protection and further investigation of its origin.

Source

[DeDukshyn]

The size of this thing is enormous -- definately not man made, and likely not even an impact crater --- way too huge for that. Possibly a natural geo phenomenon, I would have a hard time believing an ancient weapons impact crater -- although I do believe their were ancient wars fought with some fancy weapons that we may not even have today.

It caught my eye a few years ago while scouring google earth ... it is definitely a fascinating phenomenon.

Also note that the concentric rings are not nearly as "pronounced" in real life as it appears in some of the images, in fact, from the ground you can't even see it at all -- too wide.

[Wookie]

BELLY bUTTON

pEACEFUL Journeys Wookie

[MargueriteBee]

LOL Wookie, I thought belly button also!

[Atlas]

Seen from the sky:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tM09W033Sv8

[amor]

This circular imprint is not natural. It could possibly be the heavy imprint of an extremely large and heavy UFO. Alternately, it could also be traces of an ancient Hadron Collider---this is more farfetched due to composition of imprint. As I view the video, I noticed a pyramid in the lower left corner of the video. Also, there is something which looks like a moving spout moving around one of the circles in the round object. I cannot tell whether this is an overlay reflection from the camera taking the picture or not. Our creators who were here before us were very busy.
Amor

[Sidney]

After viewing post #10, it really looks like an atomic bomb went off and obliterated everything in sight. Even the sand looks dead in areas. Especially the fact that it is 50 km (31 mi.) across. A volcano would not be 30 miles across I don't think. Something falling from space and hitting would leave a massive hole and other markings not layers of rings. I don't think it could be anything BUT a huge bomb detonation. Just my opinion. I just get a very dead vibe when I look at that picture.

[MargueriteBee]

What natural thing could it be to be so round?

[StandingWave]

Could this be a candidate for the results of electric discharge machining - a cosmic discharge between planetary bodies? There is another, similar structure in Namibia called Brandberg Massif (literally translates to Burnt mountain). The Electric Universe group have a decent explanation for this kind of thing, take some time to familiarise yourself with this 'out of the box' understanding of the formative forces of the universe.

[Forevernyt]

Maybe it's where the Moon tore away from the Earth, if you follow that line of thinking?

[STR]

I have to wonder if it is not the result of a plasma burst strike from the sun because I recall recently something I read about that at Thunderbolts project regarding scorching of the surface of planets and it looks similar. I recall other looking rock too and also a recent report of the fact that petrification does not take millions of years as once thought. In fact with high voltage petrifying wood can be done using live trees and they know that now because of a live tree root system that connected a high voltage line for twenty minutes that a power company has documents on. This was petrified by the line but other parts of the tree still green that were cut off before the line got hit by the falling tree were not and those pieces are still wood while the rest and all parts that connected the high voltage line are petrified! It has also to do with the effect of plasma and they think now as a result of this finding that some areas like where I live on a Limestone slab in Oklahoma which was a shallow ocean at one time, are actually areas instantly petrified with the water instantly sucked away while it is necessary for the conversion because that is the thing! Water has to be present and this happens and its the water in the live trees that makes it happen faster, or so they think. I'll see if I can find that article.