The Eye Of The Sahara

Eye of the Sahara (Mauritania)The eye is located in central Mauritania near Ouadane. This structure is a deeply eroded, slightly elliptical, 40-km in diameter, dome. The sedimentary rock exposed in this dome range in age from Late Proterozoic within the center of the dome to Ordovician sandstone around its edges. The sedimentary rocks comprising this structure dip outward at 10°-20°.

Differential erosion of resistant layers of quartzite has created high-relief circular cuestas. Its center consists of a siliceous breccia covering an area that is at least 3 km in diameter.

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 two 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 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 to 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 being about 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.
Spectacular hydrothermal features are a part of the Richat structure. They include the extensive hydrothermal alteration of rhyolites and gabbros and a central megabreccia created by hydrothermal dissolution and collapse.

The siliceous megabreccia is at least 40 m thick in its center to only a few meters thick along its edges. The breccia consists of fragments of white to dark gray cherty material, quartz-rich sandstone, diagenetic cherty nodules, and stromatolitic limestone and is intensively silicified. The hydrothermal alteration, which created this breccia, has been dated to have occurred about 98.2 ± 2.6 million years ago using the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar method.

Initially interpreted as an asteroid impact structure because of its high degree of circularity, it is now argued to be a highly symmetrical and deeply eroded geologic dome. Despite extensive field and laboratory studies, geologists have found a lack of any credible evidence forshock metamorphisam any type of deformation indicative of a hypervelocity extraterrestrial impact.
coesite, an indicator of shock metamorphism, had been reported as being present in rocks samples collected from the Richat structure.

As the result of the further analysis of rock samples from this structure, it was concluded that barite had been misidentified as coesite.
In addition, the Richat structure lacks the annular depression that characterizes large extraterrestrial impact structures of this size. Also, it is quite different from large extraterrestrial impact structures in that the sedimentary strata comprising this structure is remarkably intact and "orderly" and lacking in overturned, steeply-dipping strata or disoriented blocks.

A more recent multianalytical study on the Richat mega breccias concluded that carbonates within the silica-rich mega breccias were created by low-temperature hydrothermal waters, and that the structure requires special protection and further investigation of its origin.

The Cave Of Crystals

The Cave of Crystals

The cave of crystals or Cueva de los Cristales- is an amazing geological formation in Mexico.

This is a cave connected to the Naica mine that sits 300m below the surface.

The main chamber contains giant gypsum crystals.


The largest crystal that has been found to date is 11 m in length and weighs 55 tonnes.


The cave is really hot with 90-99% humidity and it is due to these factors that the cave is as of yet realtivly unexplored as without the proper protection people can only have 10 minutes exposure at any one time.


Formation of the crystals


Naica lies on an ancient fault and there is an underground magma chamber below the cave. The magma heated the ground water and it became saturated with minerals, including large quantities of gypsum. The hollow space of the cave was filled with this mineral-rich hot water and remained filled for about 500,000 years. During this time, the temperature of the water remained very stable at over 50 °C. This allowed crystals to form and grow to immense sizes

 Discovery

In 1910 miners discovered a cavern beneath the Naica mine workings, the Cave of Swords (Spanish: Cueva de las Espadas). It is located at a depth of 120 m, above the Cave of Crystals, and contains spectacular, smaller (1 m long) crystals. It is speculated that at this level, transition temperatures may have fallen much more rapidly, leading to an end in the growth of the crystals.

The Giant Crystal cave was discovered in 2000 by miners excavating a new tunnel for the Industrias Peñoles mining company located in Naica, Mexico, while drilling through the Naica fault, which they were concerned would flood the mine. The mining complex in Naica contains substantial deposits of silver, zinc and lead.

The Cave of Crystals is a horseshoe-shaped cavity in limestone rock. Its floor is covered with perfectly-faceted crystalline blocks. Huge crystal beams jut out from both the blocks and the floor. The caves are accessible today because the mining company's pumping operations keep them clear of water. If the pumping were stopped, the caves would again be submerged. The crystals deteriorate in air, so the Naica Project is attempting to visually document the crystals before they deteriorate further.

A further chamber was found in a drilling project in 2009. The new cave, named the Ice Palace, is 150 m deep and is not flooded, but its crystal formations are much smaller, with small 'cauliflower' formations and fine, threadlike crystals

Exploration hinted at the existence of further chambers, but further exploration would have required demolition of the crystals. It was stated that the cave would eventually be resealed and the water level allowed to rise again.