# What is this I'm looking at in Africa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829 "2006-02-23T18:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/21 "2006-02-24T03:27:02Z")
> [@Antonius Block](#): > > As **pikilo77** mentioned, it’s part of Libya’s [Great Manmade River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Manmade_River) (GMR or GMMR) project. Although some of the circles are Center Pivot Irrigation Machines (and the radial arms are visible from the air), most of them are simple circular reservoirs for water. That is really cool. Although the wikipedia link shows this exact picture and does call them farms rather than reservoirs. They’d be pretty small for reservoirs for a project of this size, and they match up quite well with the size of irrigated fields shown in **Phase42** ’s link. Interesting to see that the irrigated fields in the desert are placed efficiently together where they have all the room in the world, but the fields in Washington are spaced based on 1/4 section land ownership and thus forced to use the land inefficiently. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/22 "2006-02-24T03:37:50Z")
Man on zooming out, I’d say that if that ain’t the exact, dead center middle of nowhere, it’s damn close. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/23 "2006-02-24T13:06:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Meanwhile, what’s the long white streak off to the right a bit? It seems to be perfectly straight, and terrain features show through it to some degree. It also seems to end abruptly on the left end at a picture seam. I’m thinking a data artifact of some sort, but I’m not sure what. That’s the copyright notice. Duh 😛 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/24 "2006-02-24T15:51:25Z")
> [@shelbo](#): > > Man on zooming out, I’d say that if that ain’t the exact, dead center middle of nowhere, it’s damn close. Seriously, I feel lonely just looking at that. On-topic: I was going to guess water reserviors. They look a little bit too dark and perfectly circular to be crop fields. ---
**Author:** ![pikolo77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@pikolo77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pikolo77)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/25 "2006-02-24T15:51:44Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > That’s the copyright notice. Duh 😛 I can see two lines. One is the aforementioned white streak which is perfectly straight and sharply edged that fades out on each end into nowhere. Then south -southeast there is a virtually identical black mark on the map. Far too straight, long, and sharp to be a contrail. Not a part of the trademark: ) And seemingly translucent to the picture beneath. I give up. Did one of the Google secretaries and the mailboy have too much fun in the copy room again? ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/26 "2006-02-24T16:15:20Z")
what on earth is [this](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=congo&t=k&ll=24.745584,17.549286&spn=0.702161,1.373291&t=k)? It is directly west of Al Kufrah. It appears to me to be a giant lake of crude oil, maybe? And why would there be a hi-res picture of [this chunk of desert](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=algeria&t=k&ll=31.185784,7.922516&spn=0.330716,0.686646&t=h) in Algeria? Zoom in…wierd… ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/27 "2006-02-24T16:25:19Z")
If you look about 300km Northwest, you’ll see a a few more of these laid out in neat rows. Some are active and some look long since dried out. Follow the road north and you’ll run into a couple of hi-res areas that contain some “interesting” going ons. Also, there is a yooooooooge fire 600km west of this “farm”. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/28 "2006-02-24T16:26:14Z")
> [@cantara](#): > > what on earth is [this](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=congo&t=k&ll=24.745584,17.549286&spn=0.702161,1.373291&t=k)? It is directly west of Al Kufrah. It appears to me to be a giant lake of crude oil, maybe? Big scorch mark perhaps? > [@cantara](#): > > And why would there be a hi-res picture of [this chunk of desert](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=algeria&t=k&ll=31.185784,7.922516&spn=0.330716,0.686646&t=h) in Algeria? Zoom in…wierd… Not sure, seems to be some sort of tunnel or pipe going in underground and some excavations nearby south off the road. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/29 "2006-02-24T16:29:50Z")
> [@cantara](#): > > what on earth is [this](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=congo&t=k&ll=24.745584,17.549286&spn=0.702161,1.373291&t=k)? It is directly west of Al Kufrah. It appears to me to be a giant lake of crude oil, maybe? There’s an oil refinery in the region if that’s of any use. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/30 "2006-02-24T16:32:06Z")
Neighboring Egypt has it’s own [middle of nowhere irrigation farm](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=algeria&t=h&ll=22.498601,28.582306&spn=0.662294,0.957184&t=h) . ---
**Author:** ![Blueapple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blueapple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueapple)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/31 "2006-02-25T04:13:02Z")
What could explain what appears to be huge holes/pores in the earths surface [this](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=algiria&t=h&ll=31.192833,7.930155&spn=0.034655,0.086517&t=h). I assume they are hills, but its difficult to tell. Does anyone have any land based pictures of this area that would better help me understand it. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/32 "2006-02-25T05:06:18Z")
> [@Blueapple](#): > > What could explain what appears to be huge holes/pores in the earths surface [this](http://www.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=algiria&t=h&ll=31.192833,7.930155&spn=0.034655,0.086517&t=h). I assume they are hills, but its difficult to tell. Does anyone have any land based pictures of this area that would better help me understand it. You’re looking at the star dunes of Issouane Erg. They look like pock marks because of the strong shadows. Google earth actually helps to reveal that they are dunes and not holes. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/33 "2006-02-25T05:08:41Z")
I have to assume that these radial lines are caravan trails, since they all converge on the oases. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829/34 "2006-02-25T06:06:14Z")
Here is a Google Earth shot of those star dunes: [![](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/scotdor/stardunes.jpg) ](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/scotdor/stardunes.jpg) Like something out of a movie! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-im-looking-at-in-africa/345829.md?page=1)