Saltation-sandblasting processes driving enrichment of water-soluble salts in mineral dust

Feng Wu; Yan Cheng; Tafeng Hu; Na Song; Feng Zhang; Zongbo Shi; Steven Sai Hang Ho; Junji Cao; Daizhou Zhang

doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00652

Saltation-sandblasting processes driving enrichment of water-soluble salts in mineral dust

Feng Wu^*, Yan Cheng, Tafeng Hu, Na Song, Feng Zhang, Zongbo Shi, Steven Sai Hang Ho, Junji Cao, Daizhou Zhang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Dust aerosols over the Taklamakan Desert contain up to 3%-4% of soil-derived water-soluble sulfate, much higher than that in the soil. It has been hypothesized that this is due to aerosol-soil fractionation during dust emission. Here, we tested this hypothesis based on laboratory simulations of saltation and sandblasting processes. Two types of soil samples (sandy deserts and gravel deserts) were collected from the Taklamakan Desert, from which dust aerosols were generated for offline chemical analyses. We found that these laboratory-generated dust aerosols contain soil-derived water-soluble ions, and the contents are comparable to those measured in ambient dust but were several to hundreds of times those of the original soils. We argue that it is the fractionation in the saltation and sandblasting processes that led to the enrichment of water-soluble salt in dust aerosols. Our results provide the first geochemical constraints for understanding the origins of water-soluble ions in dust particles emitted from the Taklamakan Desert and the impact of chemical processing on dust composition during long-range transport.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	921–928
Number of pages	8
Journal	Environmental Science and Technology Letters
Volume	9
Issue number	11
Early online date	11 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00652
Publication status	Published - 8 Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 42030511 and 41971150), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant XDB40030200), the State Scientific Survey Project of China (Project No. 2017FY101004), and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP, 2019QZKK0602).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Chemical Society.

Keywords

aerosol-soil fractionation
chemical evolution
gravel desert
sandy desert
soil-derived sulfate
Taklamakan dust

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Chemistry
Ecology
Water Science and Technology
Waste Management and Disposal
Pollution
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00652

Cite this

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title = "Saltation-sandblasting processes driving enrichment of water-soluble salts in mineral dust",

abstract = "Dust aerosols over the Taklamakan Desert contain up to 3%-4% of soil-derived water-soluble sulfate, much higher than that in the soil. It has been hypothesized that this is due to aerosol-soil fractionation during dust emission. Here, we tested this hypothesis based on laboratory simulations of saltation and sandblasting processes. Two types of soil samples (sandy deserts and gravel deserts) were collected from the Taklamakan Desert, from which dust aerosols were generated for offline chemical analyses. We found that these laboratory-generated dust aerosols contain soil-derived water-soluble ions, and the contents are comparable to those measured in ambient dust but were several to hundreds of times those of the original soils. We argue that it is the fractionation in the saltation and sandblasting processes that led to the enrichment of water-soluble salt in dust aerosols. Our results provide the first geochemical constraints for understanding the origins of water-soluble ions in dust particles emitted from the Taklamakan Desert and the impact of chemical processing on dust composition during long-range transport.",

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author = "Feng Wu and Yan Cheng and Tafeng Hu and Na Song and Feng Zhang and Zongbo Shi and {Hang Ho}, {Steven Sai} and Junji Cao and Daizhou Zhang",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 42030511 and 41971150), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant XDB40030200), the State Scientific Survey Project of China (Project No. 2017FY101004), and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP, 2019QZKK0602). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 American Chemical Society.",

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AU - Wu, Feng

AU - Cheng, Yan

AU - Hu, Tafeng

AU - Song, Na

AU - Zhang, Feng

AU - Shi, Zongbo

AU - Hang Ho, Steven Sai

AU - Cao, Junji

AU - Zhang, Daizhou

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PY - 2022/11/8

Y1 - 2022/11/8

N2 - Dust aerosols over the Taklamakan Desert contain up to 3%-4% of soil-derived water-soluble sulfate, much higher than that in the soil. It has been hypothesized that this is due to aerosol-soil fractionation during dust emission. Here, we tested this hypothesis based on laboratory simulations of saltation and sandblasting processes. Two types of soil samples (sandy deserts and gravel deserts) were collected from the Taklamakan Desert, from which dust aerosols were generated for offline chemical analyses. We found that these laboratory-generated dust aerosols contain soil-derived water-soluble ions, and the contents are comparable to those measured in ambient dust but were several to hundreds of times those of the original soils. We argue that it is the fractionation in the saltation and sandblasting processes that led to the enrichment of water-soluble salt in dust aerosols. Our results provide the first geochemical constraints for understanding the origins of water-soluble ions in dust particles emitted from the Taklamakan Desert and the impact of chemical processing on dust composition during long-range transport.

AB - Dust aerosols over the Taklamakan Desert contain up to 3%-4% of soil-derived water-soluble sulfate, much higher than that in the soil. It has been hypothesized that this is due to aerosol-soil fractionation during dust emission. Here, we tested this hypothesis based on laboratory simulations of saltation and sandblasting processes. Two types of soil samples (sandy deserts and gravel deserts) were collected from the Taklamakan Desert, from which dust aerosols were generated for offline chemical analyses. We found that these laboratory-generated dust aerosols contain soil-derived water-soluble ions, and the contents are comparable to those measured in ambient dust but were several to hundreds of times those of the original soils. We argue that it is the fractionation in the saltation and sandblasting processes that led to the enrichment of water-soluble salt in dust aerosols. Our results provide the first geochemical constraints for understanding the origins of water-soluble ions in dust particles emitted from the Taklamakan Desert and the impact of chemical processing on dust composition during long-range transport.

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Saltation-sandblasting processes driving enrichment of water-soluble salts in mineral dust

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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