Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers snapped this hypnotic image of the so-called Richat structure in Mauritania, as the space station flew over the Sahara Desert on the Atlantic Coast of West Africa. Erosion of the various rock layers created the ring-like features that make up the sprawling structure, but the origin of the Richat structure remains somewhat mysterious, geologists have said.

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Comments

Total 7 comments

TheWhiteWolf

This is nothing new and is not “mysterious.” It’s called the “Eye of The Sahara.”

Mar 26, 2012, 9:48 pm 0 Reply
Don't be hating!

How do we really know this pic came from Earth

Mar 27, 2012, 8:25 am 0 Reply
Anonymous

No mystery here. It’s open pit mining.

Mar 27, 2012, 10:52 am 0 Reply
DeDukshen

It’s NOT open pit mining (this is over 40km in diameter), its NOT new (its been there possibly millions of years and people have known about it since we had satellite photography) It IS on earth, I have seen many other photos of it – this one is extremely high contrast to highlight the features. It is actually slightly a dome, not a crater. It slightly resembles on many levels a giant, ancient and massive weapon attack – something a death star or similar could deliver Of course we all know that’s nonsense as it doesn’t fit into the paradigm the we didn’t establish At any rate, it’s another cool mystery of the earth!

Mar 27, 2012, 12:45 pm 0 Reply
O. Ryan Faust

It looks like what would happen if a meteor struck the top of a mountain.

Mar 27, 2012, 3:51 pm 0 Reply
mutant_truth

“the origin of the Richat structure remains somewhat mysterious”

And yet nowhere in the referenced article does it say the origin is “mysterious.” Did you even read it?

Mar 27, 2012, 6:29 pm 0 Reply
Dust

It is just what they say it is, if it was a impact crater it would have shock damage in the rock and very easy to detect.

Apr 6, 2012, 11:47 pm 0 Reply

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