The Richat Structure

[COSMO]

Craters in the laboratory

The Craters Are Electric
12/07/2007 
By Michael Goodspeed
http://www.thunderbolts.info/webnews/120707electriccraters.htm

Yes, and Valles Marineris sure looks more like an energy strike.  I am familiar with thunderbolts. 

But seriously guys...let's talk about the richat structure.  Not everybody buys that it is volcanic and it does not resemble any ancient volcanic activity. 

on google maps:

21.126135, -11.402951



The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara or blue eye of Africa, is a prominent geological circular feature in the Sahara desert in Mauritania near Ouadane. It is nearly 50 kilometers across and very visible from space. Initially interpreted as an asteroid impact structure because of its high degree of circularity, and then as a structure formed by a volcanic eruption that also seems improbable because of the lack of a dome of igneous or volcanic rock, it is now argued to be a highly symmetrical and deeply eroded geologic dome that collapsed. So it is now thought by many to have been caused by uplifted rock sculpted by erosion. But the fact that the "rings", are equidistant to the centre and that the Richat Structure is nearly circular remains a mystery.




Is that where the death star hit us?  Any ideas?

Cosmo

[COSMO]

[Norval]

I admit this is quite intriguing and I am doing some research into it.

Thinks for bringing it to my attention. 

Questions, , caused from above?

or from below?

ahhhh I do love questions.

[WhatTheHey]

  Thanks Norval, I never saw this before. Odd geological formation to be certain. I wonder if it could have formed by liquefaction and upheaval. Creating a ring pattern as in a mud pot that bubbles. This would not require lava or water to occur and could explain the symmetric rings.

[COSMO]

Some thought it was a crater.  It' source is questionable.  It was not off topic on the other thread.  There were other images posted of single craters.

Norvel tells me to s*hut the fuc*k up and the a mod moved my thread without a word to me.

Norvel, is that how you talk to people face to face?  Probably not huh? 

Disrespectful and rude at best.  If this is the way I am going to be treated at this forum I will swim away.

No wonder some good members have been lost.

[WhatTheHey]

  So sorry COSMO, I meant Cosmo not Norval.     

[Lunica]

I never heard of it, never saw it.

Its insane. 

I am very happy you posted this COSMO.

I think this ads a lot in the crater discussion.

All those things in plain sight.... damn

[Norval]

I admit this is quite intriguing and I am doing some research into it.

Thinks for bringing it to my attention. 

Questions, , caused from above?

or from below?

Just guessing here, and basing it on many years of looking at images from all over our solar system, , , Quite possibly from a weapon of some kind.

The closest thing I can relate it to would be an energy blast or atomic weapon.

[ArMaP]

I wonder what a geologist would say about that structure.

[Norval]

I wonder what a geologist would say about that structure.

You could try reading up on it as I did. They are just guessing also. 

[Pimander]

A geologist?  They would say it is not an impact structure at all.

Anyway, what exactly is this structure? It was originally thought to have been an impact crater when it was first seen on a large scale by scientists. More research eventually revealed that it was not actually an impact crater, but instead a a circular anticline whose crest has been eroded away.

Kim from All of My Faults Are Stress Related adds this comment after reading a paper linked in the Wikipedia article on the structure:

    It’s not just a circular anticline – it’s a dome above a Cretaceous pluton. (The article describes the intrusion as a plug, but I wonder if we’re not looking at the top of a laccolith – like the Henry Mountains in Utah, but not eroded through to the pluton itself.)

The paper is titled "Resolving the Richat enigma: Doming and hydrothermal karstification above an alkaline complex," by Matton G, Jébrak M, Lee JK:

    The Richat structure (Sahara, Mauritania) appears as a large dome at least 40 km in diameter within a Late Proterozoic to Ordovician sequence. Erosion has created circular cuestas represented by three nested rings dipping outward from the structure. The center of the structure consists of a limestone-dolomite shelf that encloses a kilometer-scale siliceous breccia and is intruded by basaltic ring dikes, kimberlitic intrusions, and alkaline volcanic rocks. Several hypotheses have been presented to explain the spectacular Richat structure and breccia, but their origin remains enigmatic. The breccia body is lenticular in shape and irregularly thins at its extremities to only a few meters. The breccia was created during karst dissolution and collapse. Internal sediments fill the centimeter- to meter-scale cavities. Alkaline enrichment and the presence of Cretaceous automorphous neoformed K-feldspar demonstrate the hydrothermal origin of these internal sediments and their contemporaneity with magmatism. A model is proposed in which doming and the production of hydrothermal fluids were instrumental in creating a favorable setting for dissolution. The circular Richat structure and its breccia core thus represent the superficial expression of a Cretaceous alkaline complex with an exceptionally well preserved hydrothermal karst infilling at its summit.

For readers not familiar with anticlines, below is a cross section of an anticline to help visualize what might be going on.

http://geology.rockbandit.net/2008/09/25/richat-structure-in-mauritania/

[Amaterasu]

I keep looking at that structure and it sure looks like an electrical event...  All the "veins" sure give that impression.  [shrug]

[Lunica]

I found a similar example with the same basic features in it. Only this one is from mars and much smaller. 2.6 km stated.

To bad there is no reference of the original source, besides it is from the Mars Global Surveyor.



Source: http://fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect19/Sect19_12.html

[ArMaP]

I found a similar example with the same basic features in it. Only this one is from mars and much smaller. 2.6 km stated.

That's a great find, as it really looks similar. 

Here's a bigger version of that photo, found here.

[Lunica]

That's a great find, as it really looks similar. 

Here's a bigger version of that photo, found here.

Great! I missed something here, or you are a wizard. 
You found it

edit: I missed it... haha