Reefs and African Dust

[Paul Blanchon]

Dear Jack and other List members,

As far as I am aware, there has been no scientific evidence published to
support a link between Saharan-dust flux and reef health. The source of the
story was a report in the May 11th issue of the St. Petersburg Times. For
all those interested in how that story was originally reported, I have
provided a link to it in the Reef Notes section of the Reef Resource Page:
http://www.indiana.edu/~reefpage
(you need a frame-capable browser to view the site; if not e-mail me for a
copy of the story).

Sensationalism is a product of reporting -- it sells newspapers. If there
is no published science to back such stories up then they are clearly non
issues. Perhaps we should wait for the science before we make subjective
judgements about the dust hypothesis -- whatever that hypothesis turns out
to be.


      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Paul Blanchon Ph.D ||  Research Associate
        Department of Geological Sciences,
        1005 E. 10th Street,
        Indiana University,
        Bloomington, IN 47405-1403.
        Tel: (812) 855-9729 Fax: (812) 855-7899
        E-mail: blanchon at indiana.edu
        Visit the Reef Resource Page at:
        http://www.indiana.edu/~reefpage
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~