Dust from the Sahara Desert, once a massive lake, travels across the Atlantic Ocean. This dust, rich in potassium and iron from dead diatoms, fertilizes the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon River then ...

This dust, rich in potassium and iron from dead diatoms, fertilizes the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon River then filters phosphorus into the ocean, creating algal blooms that support marine life.

Image by Kaspar C via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). The Amazon River and the sargassum blooms However, recent research has found evidence of a new explanation for the sargassum bloom.