The World of Dust: History from Desert to Dinner Table

Let the world animation in this link spin

https://vimeo.com/93164060

By clicking once, let it complete a full rotation in front of your eyes. You started to watch for another round, aren’t you? What are those colors? You can see all kinds of things; but what do they stand for? Interesting, isn’t it? Science is working on all those things one by one. What we are interested in are those reddish brown stains. Look once again carefully, and focus on the Sahara Desert.

If I wanted to show some examples that would amaze you and make you say “come on, really?” I would immediately present these:

The events leading to climate changes start with dusts, especially with Saharan dust.

The only factor providing the formation and plenitude of rain is Saharan dust.

The chain of events that gives rise to the formation of amino acids in the atmosphere is also initiated by the same dust. Namely, the beginning of life, or to say “the creation of man from a piece of clay” is caused by the same dust.

Having mentioned amino acids, let us start from this topic. Speaking of life is almost equal to speaking of amino acids. Many experiments on this crucial step have been attempted, which can be summed as forming organic matter out of inorganic matter. The famous Miller-Urey experiments have investigated the beginnings of life and have demonstrated the formation of amino acids.

Everything begins with the contact of water in clouds with dust, in the process of the long distance transportation of dust. In a particle of dust that meets with a droplet of water, trillions times trillions of bacteria and fungi become active swiftly and bring about oxalate. As oxalate (base of oxalic acid) conjoins with clay minerals, iron oxalate comes about.  When all these events inside clouds are reinforced by plenty of solar energy in daytime, iron oxalate breaks up, leaving behind iron compounds, carbon dioxide, also methane, according to our latest researches.

All of them are organic nutrients and they are also greenhouse gases, for our point of view. But, each of them has its own use. Carbon is required for the formation of organic matter. Since they are greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane warm up their surroundings in cool environments such as clouds. However, this warming up is at a molecular level. Very valuable amine groups emerge due to the breakup of the structure, which causes formations of methane and of the composition that we are inspecting. These amine groups are fundamental constituents of the vital amino acids that are known to be formed in clouds.

Water droplets in clouds, also known as droplets of distilled water, are increasingly enriched with these valuable chemicals, bacteria, and fungi. Caused by dust and newly formed oxalate, and via the phenomenon the patent of which is registered by me, rain droplets are formed. Eventually, this rich mixture starts its journey to the surface of the earth due to gravity.

The most probable locations for these droplets to fall on are oceans, followed by land. Both recipient environments appreciate the value of rainwater. In oceans, rainwater supports the formation of algae. Even those tiny anchovies prefer the time of fertile rains to lay their eggs instead of rains in winter.

Rainwater also supports life on land, providing growth for anything that lives on it. Have another look at the image above. For millions of years, dust rising from the Sahara have been moving towards the Amazon rainforest. Passing over the ocean being almost dry, dust fall at the Amazon via rains at every noon. Western World still thinks that these rains are sources of phosphate, natural sources of nutrition. However, we know the difference know; dusts have nothing to do with phosphate. Dusts have no use when they are dry, yet when they reach the Amazons and get in contact with the water in the air, then everything changes.

In the depths of the Amazon, there are tribes that have not met with technology yet. Every member of these tribes is plump and healthy, being full of nutrients. Nevertheless, they do not know how to benefit from the advantages of civilization. All of them are almost completely naked; willingly or unwillingly, they are soaked with these nutritious rains every single day.

Tobacco is grown both in Turkey and in Cuba. Though, Cuban tobacco leaves are huge compared to those in Turkey. The Saharan dust causes this difference. Because, the being on the ground is stimulated by commands such as “Take in as much as it arrives” and “Expand your surface area to receive more”. Of course it is a longer story, there are chains ranging from algae in the seas to different climates. We can talk about them later, but these dusts affect the balance on Earth after with their journeys in clouds. We are seeking to understand this course and abide by it, as much as we can.

 

As you can also see in the dusts animation, once desert dusts leave their sources they all move eastward via the trade winds, except for the movement from the Sahara to the Atlantic. Namely, dust from Afghanistan never reaches our country Turkey, but Saharan dust can travel to Afghanistan. According to the analyses we made, an old dry lake located on the border between Afghanistan and Iran carries more valuable properties than that of the Sahara. In other words, it is a food storage; but sadly this makes it the center of opium farming, which is the cause making Taliban powerful there. 

When we found high quality soil, we enhanced our experiments to research its effects. We fed a type of seed, called Gönen 98, with both Saharan dust and Afghan dust. The expectation was to obtain better growth with Afghan dust, but results were the opposite. Despite the fact that Afghan dust is superior with its compounds essential for soil and with its high concentration of nutritive salts, our native seeds (Anatolian) did not favor Afghan dust; while it grew very well with Saharan dust. This unexpected event impelled us to look for seeds native to Afghanistan. At the Iranian side of the dry lake situated on the Afghan-Iranian border, we found seeds from Zabol. These seeds grow on the same soil, where our dust specimens came from. We fed it with both Afghan and Saharan dust and the results were spectacular. Namely, Afghan seeds recognized Saharan dust, which has been nourishing them for thousands of years. Naturally, seeds also favored Afghan dust of their native soil, and grew very well in ideal conditions. In the past, wheat varieties (called Bezostaja) that are mainly cultivated in Russia and Mexico and that are resistant to cold and drought had been tried to cultivate in our country. Both varieties succeeded, since Saharan dust reaches both countries. If someone had imported Argentinian wheat and tried to cultivate it in Turkey, results would be either a miracle or most probably a great disappointment.

Dusts rising from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran have another common feature. They are dry when they rise and when they fall. The reason is that their chances of meeting a cloud are low. However, recipient environments have adapted to it, having programmed themselves for thousands of years according to the circumstances. Fish prefer the Arabian Sea, which is one of the most fertile seas, for the same reason. It is also because of dusts that the periphery of Antarctica is a good source of nutrition.

A story that reaches from deserts to your dining table. Every part of it requires a separate explanation. We have just taken a look at the World from a different angle; that is all. If you ask, “What good is it to know all of this?” I would remind you the former sentence. It is possible to actualize the journey that spans from deserts to our tables, everywhere and every time. Hence, understanding how nature works makes it possible to develop the art of intervening in, by most natural means. We are continuing our studies in order to achieve this.

The beginning of all these events arose from bacteria and fungi that had been sleeping in dust particles for thousands of years. What if Rosetta, which had successfully sent a probe to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet, informs us that it found bacteria or fungi there? Do you think we can initiate life in other planets too?