Mineralogical and Chemical Records of Icelandic Dust Sources Upon Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard Islands)

Abstract

This work aims to identify the geochemical and mineralogical markers of Icelandic dust and to differentiate it from the dust of local origin deposited at the Ny-Ålesund station. We characterized representative sediment samples from Iceland and Svalbard and compared them to a set of aerosol samples collected in Ny-Ålesund to check the existence and type of the mineralogical markers. The sediment samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to detect the mineralogical constrain of the geochemical markers. Both aerosol and sediment samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy coupled with EDS microanalysis (SEM-EDS) and image analysis to detect and to provide a morpho-chemical characterization of the mineralogical markers of dust provenance. Comparison between local and Icelandic sediments reveals the metal oxide particles as the most representative and distinguishing mineralogical/phase markers for Iceland dust sources. In particular, we have considered the magnetite-chromite and the magnetite-ülvospinel associations as marker facies of the tholeiitic magmatic series and the presence of volcanic glass as a further indicator of provenance from Iceland. The morphochemical characteristics of the metal oxide particles in the aerosol samples compared to those of the sediment samples have proved to be a powerful tool to separate Icelandic dust from other sources for dust. In particular, the small size, higher grain boundary complexity and lower Fe/Cr ratios suggest the influence of anthropogenic sources, well in accordance with the results of air mass backward trajectories which reveal a main contribution from industrialized areas in Eurasia. This study shows the reliability of the geochemical characterization of the metal oxide particles for the identification of the source regions of dust. In addition it provides an evidence that Icelandic dust can be transported long range to Svalbard confirming the importance of High Latitude Dust sources.

Uptake and surface chemistry of SO2 on natural volcanic dusts

“…Eyjafjallajokull is also dominated by glass (Gislason et al, 2011). Plagioclase, pyroxene, and olivine are the mineral phases reported in all five samples, while magnetite was only found in Myrdalssandur and Maelifellsandur (Moroni et al, 2018), (Baratoux et al, 2011) (Gislason et al, 2011). A very small amount of crystalline silica was found in Eyjafjallajokull and none was reported for other samples (Gislason et al, 2011).…”

“…In our study v-dusts differ significantly in their crystalline fraction. Volcanic samples used in this study contain from 20% (Hagavatn) to 80-90% (Mýrdalssandur, Maelifellssandur and Dyngjusandur) of amorphous material (Baratoux et al, 2011), (Moroni et al, 2018). The remaining part is crystalline.…”

“…There are about 30 active volcanic systems and volcanic eruptions occurring every 3-5 years on average (Thordarson and Larsen, 2007), (Schmidt et al, 2014). Frequent dust events in Iceland transport dust over long distances, often exceeding 2500 km, towards High Arctic (> 80°N) and Europe (Ovadnevaite et al, 2009), (Groot Zwaaftink et al, 2017), (Moroni et al, 2018), (Dordevic et al, 2019). Located only 1000 km from mainland Europe, it makes a particularly interesting case study due to its proximity to densely populated European countries.…”

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 a behavior could be first explained by the 2011 and 2012 back trajectories calculated using HYSPLIT (Section 2.3 and Figures S1 and S2, Supplementary Material). In fact, air masses travelled over Iceland and close to Greenland and they can transport crustal material in TSP enriched in gypsum (CaSO 4 ) as demonstrated by Moroni et al [103,104]. Moreover, it has to be underlined that a part of nss-SO 4 2− may derive from the conversion, into the atmosphere, of dimethylsulfide (DMS) which is produced in surface seawater from the enzymatic cleavage of dimethylsulfonium propionate [105].…”

Aerosol optical properties in the Arctic: The role of aerosol chemistry and dust composition in a closure experiment between Lidar and tethered balloon vertical profiles

“…Tg year -1 of material, of which, ~7% can reach the Arctic (Moroni et al, 2018;Groot Zwaaftin et al 2017.…”