Linked fluvial and aeolian processes fertilize Australian bioregions

Abstract

The pattern of 137Cs-derived net (1950s–1990) soil redistribution over Australia, together with back-trajectory modeling of major dust storms, shows extensive areas of contemporary aeolian deposition. While the Cobar Peneplain and Gawler bioregions are the largest, the Wet Tropics is also a locus of deposition, consistent with the theory that dust is a source of nutrients for tropical rainforests growing on ancient weathered soils. Here we describe a new dust transport pathway over northeastern Australia and substantiate the link between fluvial and aeolian processes, and biogeochemical cycling between Australia’s arid interior and its coastal forests.