[1][2] The Gweni Fada structure was first noted on the map NE 34 X Fada of the IGN (National Geographic Institute France) and aerial photographs in the 1950s of IGN by Alain Beauvilain (Paris X- Nanterre University).

In April 1995, at the initiative of CNAR (National Center to Help Research of Chad) a team of French geologists (Pierre Vincent, University of Clermont-Ferrand, Alain and Najia Beauvilain, CNAR Chad) visited the site and reported evidence of shock metamorphism within rock samples they had collected inside the structure.

A broad depression (ø 12 km) forms a crescent around two thirds of the inner complex zone.

On the northern side, an elevated outer ring of outward-dipping sandstones surrounds the depression.

The inner zone (ø 10 km) consists of a rugged terrain with hills several hundred meters in height.