Local vs. long-range sources of aerosol particles upon Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard Islands): mineral chemistry and geochemical records

Abstract

A general review of spider burrows and history of their research in eighteenth to nineteenth centuries are provided on the basis of the literature, which is dispersed and almost forgotten by majority of ichnologists. Moreover, burrows of the wolf spider Trochosa hispanica Simon, 1870 from a mountain meadow in Albania are presented. They are composed of an almost straight through gently curved to slightly winding vertical shafts (8.2-17.2 mm in diameter) with a basal, oval chamber, which is 14.5-30.6 mm wide. Above the ground level, some of them show a low, agglutinated chimney a cone composed of soil granules. The burrows are 83-235 mm long. They are comparable with the trace fossil Macanopsis Macsotay, 1967. Other spider burrows can form a simple shaft, which may be ascribed to the ichnogenus Skolithos Haldeman, 1840, or a shaft with the side oblique branches, which is is similar to the ichnogenus Psilonichnus Fürsich, 1981. Many spider burrows show one or more chambers. Their outlet may be closed with a trapdoor or show a chimney sticking above the ground. They may show scratch traces running parallel to the burrow. The burrows are domiciles in which spiders spend a part of, or even the whole life. They protect spiders against harsh environmental conditions, foremost against too low or to high temperature, sheet floods, or predators. Moreover, they can be also a place for copulation, oviposition, parental care, placement of cocoons, or shedding the exuvia. Burrowing spider are more common in in warmer climatic zones, in open space, above the water ground level, and less common in flooded. So far, very few examples of fossil spider burrows are recognised, mostly in Cenozoic sediments, even if spiders are known since the Carboniferous.

Chemical Composition of Aerosol over the Arctic Ocean from Summer ARctic EXpedition (AREX) 2011–2012 Cruises: Ions, Amines, Elemental Carbon, Organic Matter, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, n-Alkanes, Metals, and Rare Earth Elements

“…Such values are in agreement with the measurements of REEs in PM 10 aerosol collected at Ny-Ålesund, as reported by Giardi et al [77,131]. They all show a large variability of values, mainly related to the contribution of different crustal sources containing REEs, as shown in previous works [120]. They all correlate quite well with Al (linear correlation coefficients ranging between 0.55 and 0.80) showing that mineral dust is also a major source contribution for these elements.…”

“…The missing mass reached 40.1% in keeping with data reported in Ferrero et al [32]. This should be an indication of the presence of mineral compounds (related to dust) as described in Moroni et al [103,120].…”

Study of Chemical and Optical Properties of Biomass Burning Aerosols during Long-Range Transport Events toward the Arctic in Summer 2017

“…During the entire August 2017, an ensemble of aerosol in-situ chemical and optical measurements were carried out at the Gruvebadet station in Ny-Å lesund. These measurements are representative of the portion of the atmospheric aerosols that can reach the surface as demonstrated by vertical aerosol profiles measured at Gruvebadet station using a tethered balloon system since 2011 [8,37,[86][87][88]. Atmospheric PM10 concentrations and the related chemical composition, measured at Gruvebadet are presented in Figures 3 and 4.…”

Chemical Fractionation of Trace Elements in Arctic PM10 Samples

“…Therefore, it is possible to hypothesize two distinct sources for these two groups of elements. The latter cluster is mainly composed of analytes generally attributed to mid-latitude anthropogenic sources, hence deriving from long-range transport processes from North America or Russia [8,36]. Conversely, Cr and Ni can be attributed to air masses coming from southwest Greenland, an area where early rock minerals are particularly rich in these elements [5,37].…”