QuestionsEye of the Sahara and AtlantisWas the Richat a lake or wetland within human memory, and if so when?Answer
Answer · Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis
Wet but not a ringed lake: streams and small lakes in the African Humid Period, about 14,800 to 5,500 years ago
During the African Humid Period, about 14,800 to 5,500 years ago, the western Sahara was vegetated and the Adrar had running streams and small lakes, with streams laying down gravels in the Richat's outer ring; nothing yet found shows the rings standing full of water, and the region had dried out by Plato's time.
Where it stands
Still possibleSeven pieces of evidence for, none against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
What it predicts
- The dated young deposits in the Richat's rings are stream and wind deposits, not open-water lake beds.
- Lake deposits elsewhere in the Adrar date to the humid period and are small, local basins.
- Dust records off Mauritania are low between about 14,800 and 5,500 years ago and high outside that window.
What would rule it out
- Dated lake or marsh sediments (diatomite, laminated clays, freshwater shell beds) lying continuously along the Richat's ring depressions.
- Evidence that the Richat area stayed wet into the first millennium BC.
Evidence 7 for · none against
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The questions it answers
Open3 answers, none ahead
Cite it
Mysteries Department. (2026). Wet but not a ringed lake: streams and small lakes in the African Humid Period, about 14,800 to 5,500 years ago [Answer ANS0DCP9GQMCS19]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DCP9GQMCS19
@misc{mysteriesdept_ans0dcp9gqmcs19,
title = {Wet but not a ringed lake: streams and small lakes in the African Humid Period, about 14,800 to 5,500 years ago},
author = {{Mysteries Department}},
year = {2026},
note = {Answer, catalog key ANS0DCP9GQMCS19},
url = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DCP9GQMCS19}
}