Is Saharan Dust a Major Source of Nutrients for the Amazonian Rain Forest?

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Airborne input of minerals essential for plant growth is significantly more important for the Amazonian rain forest than elsewhere. Annual rates have been calculated to an average of 26.9 kg/ha/yr for phosphate phosphorus and 12.6 kg/ha/yr for potassium. Other nutrients show a similar amount. If these values are representative for Amazonia as a whole, the total amount of nutrient influx via the air (dry input and precipitation) attains a magnitude, which may be well above the level for assuming a local South American source of origin. Phosphate and potassium alone give an average of 15 to 25 million tons per year. It is concluded, therefore, that dust from the Sahara carried by the trade winds provides the bulk of this mineral input, thus influencing the stability and productivity of the Amazonian rain forest. If this conclusion holds true, the pleistocene forest dynamics in Amazonia should have been influenced not only by changes in the amount of rain fall, but also by the transatlantic transport of nutrients.