GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- On one side of the Atlantic is one of the driest splotches of land on Earth. On the other side is one of the wettest and most fertile. Despite the miles of open ocean separating the Sahara and Amazon, the two locales do share a commonality -- nutrient-rich dust.
As a new simulation by engineers at NASA reveals massive clouds of dust are carried across the ocean by trans-Atlantic winds to the Amazon basin. There they are deposited, and the minerals and nutrients carried within (chiefly phosphorous) are absorbed by the plants in the Amazon's rainforest.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/02 ... 424882484/