# The Richat is a meteorite impact crater

> Still possible: The Richat is the eroded remnant of a meteorite impact, its central breccia made by the impact and its rings the crater's rims.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/answers/ANS0DCKRQK46MGA/the-richat-is-a-meteorite-impact-crater  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara)[How did the Richat Structure form?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/questions/QST0DCKRBKSRCJA/how-did-the-richat-structure-form)Answer

Answer · Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis

# The Richat is a meteorite impact crater

The Richat is the eroded remnant of a meteorite impact, its central breccia made by the impact and its rings the crater's rims.

**Still possible** Answers **1** question0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** One piece of evidence for, three against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Shock-metamorphic minerals such as coesite in the central rocks.
- Shatter cones and planar deformation features in quartz.
- A geophysical signature of a crater rather than of an intrusion.

## What would rule it out

- No shock features in field and laboratory study, and the reported coesite shown to be something else.
- Geophysics showing a deep intrusive body under ring dykes.

## Evidence 1 for · 3 against

[The crater-like shape and the kilometre-scale central breccia first suggested an impact](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKS26VSF10/the-crater-like-shape-and-the-kilometre-scale-central)

Speculative

FOR

[Field and laboratory study found the Richat and Semsiyat domes are not impact structures](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKS1TRHWVE/field-and-laboratory-study-found-the-richat-and-semsiyat)

Established

AGAINST

[Geophysical models favour a deep magmatic intrusion over an impact](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKS7CAKNNQ/geophysical-models-favour-a-deep-magmatic-intrusion-over-an)

Supported

AGAINST

[The coesite reported from the Richat was a misidentification](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKS1CVQ4NT/the-coesite-reported-from-the-richat-was-a-misidentification)

Established

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[How did the Richat Structure form?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/questions/QST0DCKRBKSRCJA/how-did-the-richat-structure-form)

OpenNo answer ahead yet

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). The Richat is a meteorite impact crater [Answer ANS0DCKRQK46MGA]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DCKRQK46MGA
```

Key

**ANS** 0DCKRQK46MGA

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Proposed

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/sessions/SES0DCKZYK2CKXF/session-1-the-eye-of-the-sahara-and-the-atlantis-claim) · 28 Oct 2026

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