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Imagine paradise.
想象下天堂的模樣。
Now imagine the Bahamas.
現在想象一下巴哈馬群島。
Hard to tell the difference.
你很難講出它的獨特之處。
The island nation boasts brilliant white sands, clear waters and vibrant coral reefs.
這個群島擁有潔白無瑕的沙灘，清澈透明的海水及充滿生機的珊瑚礁。
The waters of the Bahamas are so clear because they're low in nutrients.
巴哈馬的海水如此清澈的原因在于其鹽分缺乏營養。
They're therefore relatively free of the microscopic life that turns richer waters murky—and is normally associated with the deposition of calcium carbonate.
這個島嶼相對的擺脫了微生物的影響，而就是這些小東西使得營養較豐富的海水變得渾濁，通常原因在于和碳酸鈣沉淀物有關。
So how did the reefs come to be?
所以礁石是怎樣形成的呢?
A group of scientists argue that dust from across the Atlantic in Africa may have initiated the process.
一些科學家認為可能是非洲的灰塵橫跨大西洋來到這里造就了這一進程。
Dust blows off the Sahara today, reaching all the way to the Americas.
灰塵從現在的撒哈拉沙漠被吹過來，一路旅程到達美洲。
Fertilized by the dust, cyanobacteria can then grow and pull carbon dioxide out of the water.
藍細菌經過這些灰塵的洗禮就可以生長并把水中的二氧化碳排到外面。
That activity in turn causes calcium carbonate to precipitate, an event known as a whiting.
這一過程反過來也引發了被稱為whiting反應的碳酸鈣沉淀形成。
And the cyanobacteria also fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, helping other microorganisms to thrive.
而且藍細菌也可以調整空氣中的氮含量，幫助其他微生物茁壯成長。
This may have been going on for a very long time.
這個過程可能需要很長一段時間。
Enough of such cyanobacterial work over enough time and eventually you get the Bahamas, built out of calcium carbonate.
需要足夠多的這種藍細菌在長時間里共同參與，最終才會有這個用碳酸鈣建造起來的巴哈馬群島。
At least that's what's suggested by trace elements in Bahama sediments.
至少這是通過查探巴哈馬群島的沉淀物之后而提出的。
The hypothesis is in the journal Geology.
這一假設已經在《地質學》雜志上發表。
Fertilizing similarly nutrient poor waters might help reduce rising levels of carbon dioxide that are causing uncomfortable global warming.
類似的，施肥少的水域可能會有助于減少一直在不斷上漲的二氧化碳濃度，而這種物質過多會我們感覺不舒服，引發全球變暖。
And maybe we'd get some pretty nice islands out of the deal—eventually.
也許最終我們可以利用這種方法營造一些非常美麗的島嶼。
