African dust from the Sahara desert is observed across the Atlantic as far west as the Caribbean region where it produces a hazy sky condition during the annual dry season. You are a climate scientist and make a prediction that the Sahara was not a desert during glacial periods in the northern hemisphere. How could you test this hypothesis by looking at deep sea sediments from the Atlantic off west Africa?
◦ The hypothesis is untestable with deep sea sediment.
◦ You would look at fossils to see if there were organisms that preferred dusty conditions vs. clear water conditions.
◦ You could measure the isotopes in the sediment to estimate the sea surface temperatures.
◦ You could look at the sediments to see if there were biogenic sediments interbedded with sediments with terrigeneous input corresponding to the dry, interglacial intervals.
African (above) and Asiatic (below) lions, as illustrated in Johnsons Book of Nature
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Global Links: African Slave Trade
Roots of African Poverty
Two Sonoran Desert Animals