The Perfect Storm - How Africa cares for the South American Rainforests

A desolate area on the southerly side of the Sahara Desert supplies 45 million tons of dust that naturally feeds the Amazon rainforest yearly. Experts have just discovered how such a remarkable quantity of dust arises.

An impressive combo of geography and climate makes the Bodélé depressions in north Chad the globe's dustiest place. Uncommon jet winds moving close to the ground are the engine behind this perfect dust machine.

The Bodélé depression is now a dry, remote desert, but long back was a big lakebed. Left is a ground cover of diatomite, the silica and mineral left overs of algae that long ago inhabited the lake. This is the perfect plant food.

Each 'perfect storm' picks up over 700,000 tons of dust, consisting of the diatomite, and forms a discrete cloud traveling westward. The dust clouds typical 370 by 700 kilometres (230 x 435 miles) in size, extensive enough to show up plainly on satellite photos. Most of this continues across the Atlantic Ocean on westward trade winds.

Once the cloud arrives in South America the diatomite dust rains down on the Amazon and the surrounding rainforests. The rain contains the nutrients that feed the abundant rainforest ecosystems. Therefore, the relatively small area northeast of Lake Chad is a big plant food factory for the Amazon's lush greenery.

This is just one of the 25 outstanding facts you will certainly hear when signing up with the Nature Complete Tour of SeavisTours in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.