Chad

Sand from a dry, once a massive lake in northern Chad is a miracle cure for the Amazon rainforest’s ecosystem. Every year, winds transport an incredible amount of sand and dust, equivalent to 700,000 trucks across the Atlantic. Nature shifts grains from Earth’s largest hot desert, the Sahara, to its largest rainforest, the Amazonas. The connection fertilize depleted soils in amounts matching what the Amazon annually loses. Most nutrients are swept up from a single spot, the dry Bodélé depression, in northern Chad.