60 pieces · NaturePhoto by NASA, ISS Expedition 30 crew, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. The concentric rock rings of the Richat Structure, known as the Eye of the Sahara, in the Adrar Plateau of Mauritania.
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Eye of the Sahara, Mauritania
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Eye of the Sahara, Mauritania
In the Adrar Plateau of the Mauritanian Sahara, near the town of Ouadane, a near-perfect circle of concentric rock rings spans about 45 kilometers (28 miles) across — large enough that astronauts orbiting Earth have used it as a landmark since the earliest crewed spaceflights. Geologists call it the Richat Structure; everyone else knows it as the Eye of the Sahara.
Its bullseye shape once led some scientists to suspect a meteorite impact, but the structure is now understood as a symmetrical dome of rock — technically a domed anticline — that pushed upward and was then worn down by millions of years of erosion. Stripping away the dome exposed its layers edge-on, like rings in a cut tree stump: older igneous and sedimentary rock at the center, progressively younger rock in the rings further out, with several faults visible where the layers have shifted apart.
As a jigsaw, the structure's own geology does the sorting for you. The pale, sun-bleached rings nearest the center anchor the middle of the puzzle, the darker banded ridges partway out give the sharpest edges to chase next, and the wind-scoured desert floor filling the outer frame — breaking only for a streak of drifting cloud in one corner — is the patient, low-contrast stretch to finish on.
How to play
- Tap Play Eye of the Sahara, Mauritania puzzle to open the puzzle board, then choose your piece count and difficulty.
- Drag pieces from the tray onto the board and snap them into place until the full image is complete. Works with mouse on desktop and touch on mobile.
- Use the Preview button on the play screen to peek at the full reference image whenever you need a hint.
- When you finish, check your solve time on the completion screen and share it with friends to see who can beat your record.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Eye of the Sahara?
- It is the common name for the Richat Structure, a roughly 45-kilometer-wide (28-mile) circular rock formation in the Adrar Plateau of Mauritania, made up of concentric rings of exposed rock layers.
- Was it formed by a meteorite impact?
- That was an early theory, but geologists now classify it as a domed anticline — rock pushed upward into a dome and then eroded over millions of years, exposing its internal layers in rings rather than the shattered rock typical of an impact crater.
- Why do astronauts use it as a landmark?
- Its size and nearly perfect circular symmetry make it easy to pick out from orbit against the surrounding desert, so crews aboard the International Space Station and earlier missions have photographed and referenced it as a navigational marker since the early years of crewed spaceflight.
- Where exactly is the Richat Structure?
- It sits in the Adrar Plateau of the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, near the town of Ouadane, in the country's sparsely populated interior.