Controls on mineral dust emissions at four arid locations in the western USA

Engelbrecht, Johann P.; Gillies, John A.; Etyemezian, Vicken; Kuhns, Hampden D.; Baker, Sophie; Zhu, Dongzi; Nikolich, George; Kohl, Steven D.

doi:10.1016/j.aeolia.2012.07.003

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…of clay, and possibly kaolinite. ordnance are present in the finer dust fractions (Engelbrecht et al, 2012).…”

Section: Southwestern Usa -Yuma Az (S3003 S3004)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This surface soil sample was collected during a field campaign measuring dust emissions, created by rotary-winged aircraft (Gillies et al, 2010). The sample contains rounded quartz grains together with calcite, feldspars (plagioclase, microcline), and mica (biotite, muscovite) and small amounts of hornblende, clay (kaolinite), dolomite, gypsum, and apatite (Engelbrecht et al, 2012).…”

Section: Southwestern Usa -Yuma Az (S3003 S3004)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The surface soil sample was collected from an unpaved road on the military base. It contains major amounts of quartz and plagioclase, with lesser amounts of biotite, potassium feldspars, calcite, hornblende, muscovite, dolomite, gypsum, and clays (Engelbrecht et al, 2012).…”

Section: Southwestern Usa -Yuma Az (S3003 S3004)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particle size analysis on the < 600 µm sieved samples are tabulated in Supplement S2.3. From field and laboratory measurements on dust from the western USA, Engelbrecht et al (2012) found dust emissions to be in part dependant on the particle size distributions of the soils being disturbed. Surface soils with silt contents greater than approximately 50 % and less than about 10 % clay had the greatest likelihood of being sources of substantial dust emissions.…”

Section: Particle Size Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Technical note: Mineralogical, chemical, morphological, and optical interrelationships of mineral dust re-suspensions

et al. 2016

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Abstract. This paper promotes an understanding of the mineralogical, chemical, and physical interrelationships of re-suspended mineral dusts collected as grab samples from global dust sources. Surface soils were collected from arid regions, including the southwestern USA, Mali, Chad, Morocco, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, Djibouti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Serbia, China, Namibia, Botswana, Australia, and Chile. The <  38 µm sieved fraction of each sample was re-suspended in a chamber, from which the airborne mineral dust could be extracted, sampled, and analyzed. Instruments integrated into the entrainment facility included two PM10 and two PM2.5 filter samplers, a beta attenuation gauge for the continuous measurement of PM10 and PM2.5 particulate mass fractions, an aerodynamic particle size analyzer, and a three-wavelength (405, 532, 781 nm) photoacoustic instrument with integrating reciprocal nephelometer for monitoring absorption and scattering coefficients during the dust re-suspension process. Filter sampling media included Teflon® membrane and quartz fiber filters for chemical analysis and Nuclepore® filters for individual particle analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The <  38 µm sieved fractions were also analyzed by X-ray diffraction for their mineral content while the >  75, <  125 µm soil fractions were mineralogically assessed by optical microscopy. Presented here are results of the optical measurements, showing the interdependency of single-scattering albedos (SSA) at three different wavelengths and mineralogical content of the entrained dust samples. To explain the elevated concentrations of iron (Fe) and Fe ∕ Al ratios in the soil re-suspensions, we propose that dust particles are to a large extent composed of nano-sized particles of micas, clays, metal oxides, and ions of potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), and sodium (Na+) evenly dispersed as a colloid or adsorbed in amorphous clay-like material. Also shown are differences in SSA of the kaolinite/hematite/goethite samples from Mali and those from colloidal soils elsewhere. Results from this study can be integrated into a database of mineral dust properties, for applications in climate modeling, remote sensing, visibility, health (medical geology), ocean fertilization, and impact on equipment.

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“…of clay, and possibly kaolinite. ordnance are present in the finer dust fractions (Engelbrecht et al, 2012).…”

Section: Southwestern Usa -Yuma Az (S3003 S3004)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Southwestern Usa -Yuma Az (S3003 S3004)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Southwestern Usa -Yuma Az (S3003 S3004)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Particle Size Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Technical note: Mineralogical, chemical, morphological, and optical interrelationships of mineral dust re-suspensions

et al. 2016

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“…Field and laboratory measurements of dust from the western USA carried out by Engelbrecht et al (2012) showed that dust emissions are largely controlled by their soil particle size distributions (Kok, 2011a, b). It was established that surface soils with a silt content greater than approximately 50 % and a clay content of less than approximately 10 %i.e.…”

Section: Particle Size Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Arabian Red Sea coastal soils as potential mineral dust sources

et al. 2016

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Both Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Spinning Enhanced Visible and In-fraRed Imager (SEVIRI) satellite observations suggest that the narrow heterogeneous Red Sea coastal region is a frequent source of airborne dust that, because of its proximity, directly affects the Red Sea and coastal urban centers. The potential of soils to be suspended as airborne mineral dust depends largely on soil texture, moisture content and particle size distributions. Airborne dust inevitably carries the mineralogical and chemical signature of a parent soil. The existing soil databases are too coarse to resolve the small but important coastal region. The purpose of this study is to better characterize the mineralogical, chemical and physical properties of soils from the Arabian Red Sea coastal plain, which in turn will help to improve assessment of dust effects on the Red Sea, land environmental systems and urban centers. Thirteen surface soils from the hot-spot areas of windblown mineral dust along the Red Sea coastal plain were sampled for analysis. Analytical methods included optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), ion chromatography (IC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser particle size analysis (LPSA). We found that the Red Sea coastal soils contain major components of quartz and feldspar, as well as lesser but variable amounts of amphibole, pyroxene, carbonate, clays and micas, with traces of gypsum, halite, chlorite, epidote and oxides. The range of minerals in the soil samples was ascribed to the variety of igneous and metamorphic provenance rocks of the Arabian Shield forming the escarpment to the east of the Red Sea coastal plain. The analysis revealed that the samples contain compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and iron that are essential nutrients to marine life. The analytical results from this study will provide a valuable input into dust emission models used in climate, marine ecology and air quality studies.

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