# Wet but not a ringed lake: streams and small lakes in the African Humid Period, about 14,800 to 5,500 years ago > Still possible: 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… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/answers/ANS0DCP9GQMCS19/wet-but-not-a-ringed-lake-streams-and-small-lakes-in-the Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) --- [Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara)[Was the Richat a lake or wetland within human memory, and if so when?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/questions/QST0DCP9AD347WE/was-the-richat-a-lake-or-wetland-within-human-memory-and-if)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. **Still possible** Answers **1** question0 ## Where it stands **Still possible** Seven 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 [Across Africa the humid period lasted about 14,800 to 5,500 years ago and ended earlier in the north](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCPAENM8CDW/across-africa-the-humid-period-lasted-about-14-800-to-5-500) Supported FOR [By the fifth century BC Herodotus knew inner Libya as waterless and rainless](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCPAGPS20DJ/by-the-fifth-century-bc-herodotus-knew-inner-libya-as) Suggestive FOR [In wet phases the Sahara's rivers, lakes and inland deltas joined into networks, last active in the early Holocene](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCPAFVDAH9A/in-wet-phases-the-saharas-rivers-lakes-and-inland-deltas) Suggestive FOR [Leaf waxes off the western Sahara put the Green Sahara at about 11,000 to 5000 years ago, with a likely abrupt end](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCPAFD077ZY/leaf-waxes-off-the-western-sahara-put-the-green-sahara-at) Supported FOR [Off Mauritania, dust fell to a low between about 14,800 and 5,500 years ago, when the Sahara was green with perennial…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCPAE99WFM7/off-mauritania-dust-fell-to-a-low-between-about-14-800-and-5) Established FOR [Small diatom lakes stood on a wadi floodplain in the south-east Adrar between 9630 and 7550 radiocarbon years ago](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCPAEXNC1T8/small-diatom-lakes-stood-on-a-wadi-floodplain-in-the-south) Supported FOR [The dated deposits formed in the African Humid Period from streams and wind, dated on shells and calcite](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCKV7EAR5F8/the-dated-deposits-formed-in-the-african-humid-period-from) Supported FOR [In the eastern Sahara the drying was gradual: dust from about 4300 years ago, desert by about 2700](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/evidence/EVD0DCPAG9FVWCG/in-the-eastern-sahara-the-drying-was-gradual-dust-from-about) Supported NEUTRAL ## The questions it answers [Was the Richat a lake or wetland within human memory, and if so when?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/questions/QST0DCP9AD347WE/was-the-richat-a-lake-or-wetland-within-human-memory-and-if) Part of [Is the Richat Structure the place Plato described as Atlantis?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/questions/QST0DCKRC3VMNXB/is-the-richat-structure-the-place-plato-described-as) 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 ``` Key **ANS** 0DCP9GQMCS19 Kind Answer · hypothesis Proposed [Session 2](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eye-of-the-sahara/sessions/SES0DCPG24DVVS2/session-2-atlantis-in-the-ancient-sources-the-green-sahara) · 28 Oct 2026 Version 1 Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) The record Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history. [JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ANS0DCP9GQMCS19)