WHAT is the Richat Structure - The Eye of the Sahara - Guelb er Richât and HOW was it formed? // The Richat Structure (The Eye of the Sahara) is a deeply eroded geologic dome in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, Africa. The Eye of the Sahara is a large circular geological formation whose birth started over 100 million years ago with the splitting of Pangaea. The supercontinent of Pangea started splitting about 200 million years ago because of plate tectonics. As the landmasses that eventually became today’s continents started separating, the lithosphere in the area of the Richat Structure started weakening. Because of that, the magma beneath it started pushing the crust upwards, forming a geologic dome made of igneous and sedimentary rocks. The erosion of this dome, a process that span 100 million years, led to the formation of the cliffs (less eroded areas made of harder, igneous rocks) and valleys (more severely eroded areas made of softer, sedimentary rocks) we can see today in the Richat Structure. The Eye of the Sahara is a fascinating geological wonder of our planet, not just in its sight, but also in its history.

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Timecodes:
0:00 – Intro to The Richat Structure (The Eye of the Sahara)
1:00 – What is The Richat Structure?
1:43 – What The Eye of the Sahara is not
2:02 – How was The Richat Structure formed?
2:49 – What is plate tectonics?
4:01 – The erosion of The Richat Structure dome
5:07 – Why does the Richat Structure have its current shape?
5:24 – What are igneous rocks?

My blog post on “What is the Richat Structure - "The Eye of the Sahara”?” – [ Ссылка ]

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About me: My name is Maria Baias and I’m a scientist turned Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer. While teaching a university course on Inorganic Chemistry, I became fascinated by minerals and rocks and the role they play in shaping interesting geological formations. That, combined with my research background in Heritage Science are what led to my interests in using science to explore and understand the wonders of our planet. I’m happy to share those stories with the rest of the world through this channel and my blog: [ Ссылка ]

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Resources:

"Eye Of The Sahara or Richat Structure": [ Ссылка ]
“What Is the Eye of the Sahara?”: [ Ссылка ]
“Eye Of The Sahara or Richat Structure”: [ Ссылка ]
Richat Structure - NASA Earth Observatory: [ Ссылка ]
“RICHAT STRUCTURE, THE EYE OF THE SAHARA DESERT”: [ Ссылка ].
“Pangea”: [ Ссылка ]
“Plate Tectonics”: [ Ссылка ]

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