Saharan dust explains Bahamas’ paradoxical existence

The Bahamas owes its origins to windswept dust from Africa’s Sahara Desert, scientists propose June 30 in Geology.

The dust nourishes microbes that produce calcium carbonate, the core building block of the Bahama Islands, the researchers say. Over the last 100 million years this carbonate has assembled into the Great Bahama Bank, a 4.5-kilometer-thick