When you purchase through link on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
A strange doughnut - mold mound in a desert in southerly Australia lately made a surprise appearance in high - resolution orbiter images . The odd establishment , which from space resembles a heavy bullseye , is likely the remains of an ancient reef , made by germ and leave over from a prison term when a vast ocean deal the now - arid environment , new research suggests .
The new study , published July 29 in the journalEarth Surface Processes and Landforms , used data from the TerraSAR - X add - on for Digital Elevation Measurement ( TanDEM - 10 ) mission , which end in 2016 and involved a duo ofEarthobservation satellite that were set up and maintain by the German Aerospace Center ( DLR ) , Germany ’s national space agency . Using radiolocation data from the twin satellites , the DLR bring forth detailed 3D maps of the Earth ’s landmass from pole to pole , according to the European Union’sEuropean Data Portal .
Scientists spotted an odd bullseye-shaped mound in Australia’s Nullarbor Plain.
For the new enquiry , scientists examined DLR maps of the Nullarbor Plain , a flat , remarkably dry landscape that spread over about 77,220 square miles ( 200,000 square kilometers ) of southerly Australia . A layer of limestone run for beneath the field ’s surface substratum ; this rock originally formed in shallow nautical seagrass meadows that cover the seafloor when the knit stitch was still submerged beneath the ocean , star author Matej Lipar , a enquiry comrade at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( ZRC SAZU ) in Ljubljana , and older generator Milo Barham , a senior reader at the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University in Perth , Australia , wrote inThe Conversation .
The plain first emerged as the sea recede some 14 million age ago during the Miocene epoch , and since then , the land has stay relatively unchanged , Lipar and Barham wrote . Unlike wetter , more geologically active regions , the dry knit stitch has not been extensively grave by glaciers and rivers course over its surface , although strong farting did once broom sediment onto the landscape , form sand sand dune that have since vanished .
Related : Coral reefs have ' halos , ' and they can be see from the heaven
" Unlike many parts of the creation , large areas of the Nullarbor Plain have remain for the most part unaltered by weathering and erosion processes over millions of years , making it a unique geological canvass recording ancient history in remarkable ways , " Barham said in astatement . Now , the TanDEM - X image have revealed another enigmatic leftover of the Nullarbor Plain ’s ancient past : a cryptic bullseye - regulate geological formation that measures about 0.77 miles ( 1.25 klick ) wide and just a few yards tall .
" Initially , we imagine we had discover the first meteorite impact crater to be discovered on the Nullarbor Plain , " Lipar and Barham wrote in The Conversation . " However , when we took a closer look at the bullseye we examine none of the chemical substance or high - atmospheric pressure indicators of an impact . "
— monumental ' pristine ' reef of gargantuan rosebush - shaped corals discovered lurking unco deep off the coast of Tahiti
— Coral ' tug ' taller than the Empire State Building expose off Australian coast
— 400 - year - erstwhile ' Muga dhambi ' is one of the largest and oldest precious coral in the Great Barrier Reef
For this unaired inspection , the team collected tilt sampling from the bullseye that they shine and sliced thinly enough for brightness level to shine through . By placing the stone slice under a microscope , the research worker discovered deposits of microbic boundstone , a case of careen formed from sediments bind together by microscopical organisms , such as alga .
Similar mob - forge mounds , made from the calcium carbonate - rich frame of green algae , can be discover today in the Great BarrierReef , ABC Science report . Due to this similarity , the researcher interpreted the newfound bullseye as " an ancient isolated ' Rand , ' " they wrote in The Conversation .
" This biogenic knoll imprint on the Davy Jones long ago but degraded so slowly after the land was lifted above the waves that it is still placeable roughly 14 million years afterwards , " they say .
Originally put out on Live Science .
