Richat Structure

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Guelb he Richat (Arabic ), German also Richat structure, described as Africa's eye or bull's eye, is a ring-shaped crater- like geological formations in the Sahara Desert in northern Mauritania.

Guelb means in the flat Sahara " island mountain". The ring hill located in the province of Adrar about 30 kilometers northeast of the small town Ouadane. They have a diameter of 45 kilometers. The concentric circular walls are only a few meters high and consist of sedimentary rocks.

Originally, the structure was interpreted as a meteorite impact craters, but this is not widely supported due to lack of impact rocks. The Sahara Théodore Monod researchers published in 1954 a work in which he described five such crater in Mauritania and supported the popular notion in fours, including the Richat, it could be a volcanic explosion on earth, only the fifth he wanted the action not rule out a meteor. Was discovered in 1969 by Robert S. Dietz evidence of a meteorite impact. The origin of this circular structure is not completely clarified.

Since the structure of the universe is particularly striking to see, it was used by astronauts during shuttle missions for orientation.