Desert dust is transformed into life-giving minerals

A desert is considered an infertile geographical area, with little or no vegetation. All that this area has is sand, which covers more than 20% of its surface area.

However, in a recent study, scientists at the University of California said that desert dust could be an important factor, contributing to nurturing life from many other places, especially at the bottom of the sea.

The Sahara Desert is huge (Photo: Getty).

Specifically, desert dust is blown by the wind into the atmosphere and moves away from the deserts. At this time, the iron content inside the sand will be converted into a form that is easily accessible to the biosphere below.

In other words, desert dust is being converted into minerals by the Earth's atmosphere, and thereby nurturing life.

"Transported iron appears to stimulate biological processes that have impacted life in the oceans and on land," said Timothy Lyons, a biogeochemist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Iron is known to play an important role in biochemical pathways, helping to protect atmospheric carbon, and metabolizing organic molecules.

Although iron is essential for life, its supply is very limited. In addition, not all forms of iron can be absorbed by living organisms.

Because of this, the dispersion of desert dust particles may largely determine where life can be found on Earth.

Researchers discovered this by analyzing cores drilled from the seafloor. They found large amounts of bioactive iron, meaning it can dissolve and nourish plankton throughout the oceans.

These plankton then serve as a rich food source for marine animals, and also produce much of the oxygen we all breathe.

Not only that, they are also related to bacterial activities on the surface of some large coral reefs, or pollination of seaweed.

This new discovery reveals a surprising connection between geological features and life on our planet.