The Richat Structure in Mauritania

The Richat Structure in Mauritania. Today’s Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features a mysterious looking feature of the Saharn Desert known as the Richat Structure.

Measuring about 40 kilometers in diameter, the Richat Structure is located in the African country of Mauritania.

The landmark is much easier to observe from space, and astronauts have recognized it since the earliest missions.

Experts theorize that the Richat was formed by a large dome of molten rock that was upliftes to the surface.

Exposed within the interior of the Richat Structure are a variety of intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks. They include rhyolitic volcanic rocks, gabbros, carbonatites and kimberlites. The rhyolitic rocks consist of lava flows and hydrothermally altered tuffaceous rocks that are part of two distinct eruptive centers, which are interpreted to be the eroded remains of two maars. According to field mapping and aeromagnetic data, the gabbroic rocks form two concentric ring dikes. The inner ring dike is about 20 m in width and lies about 3 km from the center of the Richat Structure. The outer ring dike is about 50 m in width and lies about 7 to 8 km from the center of this structure. Thirty-two carbonatite dikes and sills have been mapped within the Richat Structure. The dikes are generally about 300 m long and typically 1 to 4 m wide. They consist of massive carbonatites that are mostly devoid of vesicles. The carbonatite rocks have been dated as having cooled between 94 and 104 million years ago. A kimberlitic plug and several sills have been found within the northern part of the Richat Structure. The kimberlite plug has been dated to around 99 million years old. These intrusive igneous rocks are interpreted as indicating the presence of a large alkaline igneous intrusion that currently underlies the Richat Structure and created it by uplifting the overlying rock

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Image Credit: ESA