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Research into global hot spots of dust emission has focused on exposed fine-grained sediments in palaeo-or ephemeral dryland lake basins including Etosha (Namibia) and Makgadikgadi (Botswana) in southern Africa. Namibia's western ephemeral river valleys are also known to produce dust but have remained largely overlooked as a regionally significant source. Nutrient enrichment of valley sediments and proximity to the South Atlantic suggests aeolian dust could play an important role in ocean fertilization. The fertility of valley dust is dependent on fluvial sediments originating in the upper catchments on the Southern African Central Plateau. In this study we investigate climate, geology, vegetation and land use variability and how these may influence the nitrogen, phosphorus and iron availability in the catchments. We intensely sampled the Huab, Kuiseb and Tsauchab river systems to map the spatial distribution of nutrients from upper catchments to river termini. Samples were analysed for the bioavailable fractions of iron, nitrogen and phosphorus as well as total nitrogen and phosphorus. Results show that the lower valley reaches are sources of aeolian dust enriched in nutrients. Nitrogen levels correlate with precipitation and vegetation levels and phosphorus levels with geology. However, differences in upper catchment sediment nutrient levels were not representative of downstream nutrient differences between valleys. Rather, it is the hydrological and geomorphological processes of the ephemeral river systems that are key for producing the enriched sediments in the lower reaches. We demonstrate that the ephemeral river valleys of western Namibia are an extensive and enriched source of mineral dust that could play a critical role in marine productivity of the southern Atlantic.

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Western Namibia is a significant global source of atmospheric mineral dust. We investigate the relationship between dust and source sediments, assessing the sustainability of dust flux. Remote sensing studies have highlighted specific ephemeral fluvial systems as important contributors to dust flux, including highlighting sections of valleys that are the origins of dust plumes in the period 2005-2008. Little is known however about the specific within-valley dust sediment sources, particularly whether dust is derived from modern ephemeral channel floors or older valley fill sediments, many of which have been reported in the region. As part of a region-wide analysis of aeolian dust flux, we investigate the sediment properties of atmospheric dust samples and valley sediments from the Huab valley, one of the principal regional dust sources. Trapped dust samples contain up to 88% very fine sand and silt when collected samples are disaggregated prior to analysis. Valley fill surface samples comprise 80% very fine sand and silt, and the surface of the modern ephemeral channel 30%. Valley fill sediments were sampled at depths up to 3.6 m below the present surface and reveal Holocene depositional ages from 0.6 ± 0.03 ka back to 9.79 ± 0.73 ka. These sediments contain 30% to 6% very fine sand and silt, with levels decreasing with depth and age. Aeolian bedforms in the valley system (nebkhas on the fill surface and climbing dunes on valley margins) indicate that aeolian processes under the influence of strong seasonal easterly winds likely result in dust being winnowed out of the valley fill surfaces, with sandy bedforms being constructed from the coarser component of the fill sediments. The volume of valley fill sediment suggests dust sourced from Holocene sediments is likely to continue into the future regardless of flow conditions in the modern channel system. 10 cm depth subsurface sample, S5 and S6 are from the surface of an inner channel terrace and S7, S8, S9 and S10 are modern channel floor samples.

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