HOLOCENE SAHARAN DUST DEPOSITION ON THE CAPE-VERDE ISLANDS - SEDIMENTOLOGICAL AND ND-SR ISOTOPIC EVIDENCE

Holocene aeolian silts deposited on the Cape Verde Islands provide inf ormation about the origin of African palaeodusts that have fallen on t he north-eastern Atlantic ocean over the last 10 000 years. Sedimentol ogical composition indicates that most of these aeolian silts are unqu estionably of continental origin. Their Sr and Nd isotopic composition identifies a Saharan origin-suggesting transport by Harmattan winds. We estimate that Saharan dust comprises 75-95% of material in these Ho locene silts, the rest coming fi om the weathering of local basaltic b edrock.