Mineral Dust

Mineral Dust
Author: Peter Knippertz
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2014-09-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401789789

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This volume presents state-of-the-art research about mineral dust, including results from field campaigns, satellite observations, laboratory studies, computer modelling and theoretical studies. Dust research is a new, dynamic and fast-growing area of science and due to its multiple roles in the Earth system, dust has become a fascinating topic for many scientific disciplines. Aspects of dust research covered in this book reach from timescales of minutes (as with dust devils, cloud processes and radiation) to millennia (as with loess formation and oceanic sediments), making dust both a player and recorder of environmental change. The book is structured in four main parts that explore characteristics of dust, the global dust cycle, impacts of dust on the Earth system, and dust as a climate indicator. The chapters in these parts provide a comprehensive, detailed overview of this highly interdisciplinary subject. The contributions presented here cover dust from source to sink and describe all the processes dust particles undergo while travelling through the atmosphere. Chapters explore how dust is lifted and transported, how it affects radiation, clouds, regional circulations, precipitation and chemical processes in the atmosphere and how it deteriorates air quality. The book explores how dust is removed from the atmosphere by gravitational settling, turbulence or precipitation, how iron contained in dust fertilizes terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and about the role that dust plays in human health. We learn how dust is observed, simulated using computer models and forecast. The book also details the role of dust deposits for climate reconstructions. Scientific observations and results are presented, along with numerous illustrations. This work has an interdisciplinary appeal and will engage scholars in geology, geography, chemistry, meteorology and physics, amongst others with an interest in the Earth system and environmental change. body>

Characterization of Mineral Dust Emitted from an Actively Retreating Glacier in Yukon, Canada

Characterization of Mineral Dust Emitted from an Actively Retreating Glacier in Yukon, Canada
Author: Jill Bachelder
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

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Airborne mineral dust emitted in Arctic regions can significantly alter the energy balance of the Northern atmosphere through scattering and absorption of radiation; dust also plays an important role in the biogeochemical cycling of metals and can have deleterious effects on air quality and public health. The impact of northern dust sources on the atmosphere and environment may change rapidly, as warming temperatures in the North can increase mineral dust production and source regions by inducing topographical changes due to rapid glacier ablation. However, at present, the impact of such changes is difficult to evaluate because there are very few scientific studies that perform direct field measurements of mineral dust emissions as well as of mineral dust chemical and microphysical properties in Arctic regions. To address this knowledge gap, we performed mineral dust measurement campaigns in June 2017 and May 2018 near the Ä'äy Chù (Slims River), within a proglacial valley in Yukon, Canada that has exhibited strong dust emissions. The Ä'äy Chù Valley has been impacted heavily by climate change, as the rapid retreat of the adjacent Kaskawulsh glacier, recently routed waters away from the river valley, leaving the riverbed exposed and thus potentially increasing its dust-producing erodible surface area. We have collected aerosol samples (PM10 and deposited mineral dust) throughout the Ä'äy Chù Valley, and have recorded weather data to establish a link between environmental factors and the emission of dust. We have also employed an efficient, quantitative method for analysis of trace metals in mineral dust via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to quantify trace metals in PM10 samples, soil and in deposited mineral dust samples. Ours is the first field campaign to provide chemical and microphysical characterization of mineral dust emitted directly from a high-latitude dust source in Canada. Analysis of data obtained by an optical particle counter (OPC) indicated dust events occurred during both daylight and non-daylight hours, while gravimetric analysis of filter samples found ambient concentrations ranging between 240 μg/m3 and 3950 μg/m3 at the dust source during the course of the dust observation campaign. Furthermore, air quality thresholds of the World Health Organization (WHO) were exceeded at sites near the dust source, including at the Thachäl Dhäl Visitor's Center run by Parks Canada and a site next to the Alaska Highway. We were unable to successfully analyze our samples using laser ablation ICP-MS and single particle ICP-MS. Nevertheless, we successfully validated a protocol for performing ICP-MS analysis of digested samples and were thus able to apply this technique to the analysis of our samples. Analysis of elemental composition via ICP-MS has revealed enrichment of minor and trace element content in ambient air samples as compared to soils and dust deposition, generally by a factor of 1.5 to 2. Moreover, SEM/EDS analysis has demonstrated that the emitted dust primarily consists of non-spherical particles composed of aluminosilicate clay mineral aggregates. Finally, we have calculated the vertical flux of particulate mass, and have used the flux, the size distribution, and the composition of both PM10 and soil samples to evaluate several theories related to the predominant dust emission mechanism that occurs in the Ä'äy Chù Valley.

Treatise on Geomorphology

Treatise on Geomorphology
Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 6392
Release: 2013-02-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0080885225

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The changing focus and approach of geomorphic research suggests that the time is opportune for a summary of the state of discipline. The number of peer-reviewed papers published in geomorphic journals has grown steadily for more than two decades and, more importantly, the diversity of authors with respect to geographic location and disciplinary background (geography, geology, ecology, civil engineering, computer science, geographic information science, and others) has expanded dramatically. As more good minds are drawn to geomorphology, and the breadth of the peer-reviewed literature grows, an effective summary of contemporary geomorphic knowledge becomes increasingly difficult. The fourteen volumes of this Treatise on Geomorphology will provide an important reference for users from undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic. Information on the historical development of diverse topics within geomorphology provides context for ongoing research; discussion of research strategies, equipment, and field methods, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations reflect the multiple approaches to understanding Earth’s surfaces; and summaries of outstanding research questions highlight future challenges and suggest productive new avenues for research. Our future ability to adapt to geomorphic changes in the critical zone very much hinges upon how well landform scientists comprehend the dynamics of Earth’s diverse surfaces. This Treatise on Geomorphology provides a useful synthesis of the state of the discipline, as well as highlighting productive research directions, that Educators and students/researchers will find useful. Geomorphology has advanced greatly in the last 10 years to become a very interdisciplinary field. Undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic will find the answers they need in this broad reference work which has been designed and written to accommodate their diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. J. F. Shroder of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is past president of the QG&G section of the Geological Society of America and present Trustee of the GSA Foundation, while being well respected in the geomorphology research community and having won numerous awards in the field. A host of noted international geomorphologists have contributed state-of-the-art chapters to the work. Readers can be guaranteed that every chapter in this extensive work has been critically reviewed for consistency and accuracy by the World expert Volume Editors and by the Editor-in-Chief himself No other reference work exists in the area of Geomorphology that offers the breadth and depth of information contained in this 14-volume masterpiece. From the foundations and history of geomorphology through to geomorphological innovations and computer modelling, and the past and future states of landform science, no "stone" has been left unturned!

Minerals dust

Minerals dust
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release:
Genre:
ISBN:

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