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 information about the origin of African palaeodusts that have fallen on the north‐eastern Atlantic ocean over the last 10 000 years. Sedimentological composition indicates that most of these aeolian silts are unquestionably 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 Holocene silts, the rest coming from the weathering of local basaltic bedrock.