We may think of dust as just annoying minute dirt that infests our furniture, but on a grander scale, specks of dust play an important role in determining the life and health of the planet. For instance, the clouds of dust blown from the Saharan Desert by storms fertilize the Amazon rainforest and feed algae and plants in beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Through this phenomenon, the plants and algae from these places are able to intake carbon dioxide and expel oxygen.
Researchers from the University of Oklahoma, Florida State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hampton University and the College of Charleston led by Mehrdad Sardar Abadi of the School of Geosciences at the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy along with director Lynn Soreghan analyzed the role of dust on the atmosphere 300 million years ago.
The methodology of the research included finding ancient atmospheric dust. The search for this ancient atmospheric dust led the researchers to the remnants of a shallow marine ecosystem within Iran.
WHAT DID THE RESEARCHERS FIND IN THIS SHALLOW MARINE ECOSYSTEM?
The researchers collected and identified samples of dust that were trapped in carbonate rocks from limestones that were preserved in the mountains in the northern and central regions of Iran. The collected rocks were then subjected to chemical treatments to be able to extract these ancient specks of dust.
The chemical treatments exposed silicate minerals like clay and quartz that were able to reach this specific environment as 300 million-year-old dust. Sardar Abadi can determine how much dust was present in the atmosphere of the Late Paleozoic based on the harvested ancient specks of dust. Together with the researchers from Florida State University, Sardar Abadi performed geochemical tests to analyze whether or not iron is present in the samples. Not only did the test prove that there is iron in the samples, but the ancient specks of dust contained the highly-reactive type of iron. It is also believed that this sample of ancient specks of dust contains more iron than the amount of dust that fertilizes the Amazon.
IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING ANCIENT DUST
Sardar Abadi noted that through these ancient specks of dust algae and cyanobacteria present in ancient marine ecosystems were fed and thus allows them to photosynthesize and take carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere. This phenomenon caused a massive change in the planet's atmosphere, making it eventually capable of life.
In a press release issued by the University of Oklahoma as posted in Phys.org, Sadar Abadi explains, "higher abundance in primary producers like plants and algae could lead to higher carbon capture, helping to explain declines in atmospheric carbon dioxide around 300 million years ago." "If what we are seeing from our samples was happening on a global scale, it means that the dust fertilization effect brought down atmospheric carbon dioxide and was a fairly significant part of the carbon cycle during this time in Earth's history." said co-author Soreghan.
The findings of this research can be vital in creating climate models that will help scientists understand the planet more, especially now when Earth is facing climate change. The data is published in Geology
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