The geologic records of dust in the Quaternary

Muhs, Daniel R.

doi:10.1016/j.aeolia.2012.08.001

Cited by 223 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 246 publications

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“…With inadequate rainfall and vast desert areas under dry climates, temperature and precipitation are considered as two important climatic factors causing the formation of sand and dust storms (Keramat et al, 2011). Most of the SDS source regions are deserts, drying alluvial basins, large basins of internal drainage, areas of increased drought/ groundwater withdrawal, etc (Goudie, 2009;Muhs, 2013). In this perspective, location of sandy soils in certain underground levels could provide us with the degree of desertification and serve as potential source regions.…”

Section: Sds Source Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of sand and dust storm source areas in Iran

Jian²,

et al. 2015

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Sand and dust storms (SDS) are common phenomena in arid and semi-arid areas. In recent years, SDS frequencies and intensities have increased significantly in Iran. A research on SDS sources is important for understanding the mechanisms of dust generation and assessing its socio-economic and environmental impacts. In this paper, we developed a new approach to identify SDS source areas in Iran using a combination of nine related datasets, namely drought events, temperature, precipitation, location of sandy soils, SDS frequency, human-induced soil degradation (HISD), human influence index (HII), rain use efficiency (RUE) and net primary productivity (NPP) loss. To identify SDS source areas, we firstly normalized these datasets under uniform criteria including layer reprojection using Lambert conformal conic projection, data conversion from shapefile to raster, Min-Max Normalization with data range from 0 to 1, and data interpolation by Kriging and images resampling (resolution of 1 km). After that, a score map for the possibility of SDS sources was generated through overlaying multiple datasets under average weight allocation criterion, in which each item obtained weight equally. In the score map, the higher the score, the more possible a specific area could be regarded as SDS source area. Exceptions mostly came from large cities, like Tehran and Isfahan. As a result, final SDS source areas were mapped out, and Al-Howizeh/Al-Azim marshes and Sistan Basin were identified as main SDS source areas in Iran. The SDS source area in Al-Howizeh/Al-Azim marshes still keeps expanding. In addition, Al-Howizeh/Al-Azim marshes are now suffering rapid land degradation due to natural and human-induced factors and might totally vanish in the near future. Sistan Basin also demonstrates the impacts of soil degradation and wind erosion. With appropriate intensity, duration, wind speed and altitude of the dust storms, sand particles uplifting from this area might have developed into extreme dust storms, especially during the summer.Keywords: sand and dust storm; weight allocation criterion; Kriging interpolation; score map; Al-Howizeh/Al-Azim marshes; Sistan Basin Citation: CAO Hui, LIU Jian, WANG Guizhou, YANG Guang, LUO Lei. 2015. Identification of sand and dust storm source areas in

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Section: Sds Source Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of sand and dust storm source areas in Iran

Jian²,

et al. 2015

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“…Worldwide, times of highest loess production are typically associated with glacial periods (see Muhs, 2013a, 2013b for reviews). The lack of a last-glacial-aged loess record at Chitina is explained by the presence of Glacial Lake Atna, which provided a sink for glaciogenic silts and clays that otherwise would have been transported as loess.…”

Section: Timing Of Loess Deposition At Chitinamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of reviews in the past decade or so have emphasized the importance of dust with its influence on planetary radiation balance, effects on clouds and precipitation, its role in adding nutrients to soils and the biosphere, and the importance of dust as a source of iron to primary producers (such as phytoplankton) in the world's oceans (Kohfeld and Harrison, 2001;Tegen, 2003;Goudie and Middleton, 2006;Mahowald et al, 2005Mahowald et al, , 2006Kohfeld and Tegen, 2007;Maher et al, 2010;Shao et al, 2011;Muhs, 2013a). These reviews also show that the emphasis of dust research has been on either contemporary dust sources, dominantly in low-latitude arid regions, or enhanced dust production at higher latitudes during the last glacial period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loess origin, transport, and deposition over the past 10,000years, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

et al. 2013

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a b s t r a c tContemporary glaciogenic dust has not received much attention, because most research has been on glaciogenic dust of the last glacial period or non-glaciogenic dust of the present interglacial period. Nevertheless, dust from modern glaciogenic sources may be important for Fe inputs to primary producers in the ocean. Adjacent to the subarctic Pacific Ocean, we studied a loess section near Chitina, Alaska along the Copper River in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, where dust has been accumulating over the past $10,000 years. Mass accumulation rates for the fine-grained (<20 lm) fraction of this loess section are among the highest reported for the Holocene of high-latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Based on mineralogy and geochemistry, loess at Chitina is derived from glacial sources in the Wrangell Mountains, the Chugach Mountains, and probably the Alaska Range. Concentrations of Fe in the silt-plus-clay fraction of the loess at Chitina are much higher than in all other loess bodies in North America and higher than most loess bodies on other continents. The very fine-grained (<2 lm) portion of this sediment, capable of long-range transport, is dominated by Fe-rich chlorite, which can yield Fe readily to primary producers in the ocean. Examination of satellite imagery shows that dust from the Copper River is transported by wind on a regular basis to the North Pacific Ocean. This Alaskan example shows that high-latitude glaciogenic dust needs to be considered as a significant Fe source to primary producers in the open ocean.Published by Elsevier B.V. IntroductionDust is an integral part of the Earth's environmental systems, including the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. A number of reviews in the past decade or so have emphasized the importance of dust with its influence on planetary radiation balance, effects on clouds and precipitation, its role in adding nutrients to soils and the biosphere, and the importance of dust as a source of iron to primary producers (such as phytoplankton) in the world's oceans (Kohfeld and Harrison, 2001;Tegen, 2003;Goudie and Middleton, 2006;Mahowald et al., 2005Mahowald et al., , 2006Kohfeld and Tegen, 2007;Maher et al., 2010;Shao et al., 2011;Muhs, 2013a). These reviews also show that the emphasis of dust research has been on either contemporary dust sources, dominantly in low-latitude arid regions, or enhanced dust production at higher latitudes during the last glacial period. There has been a focus on contemporary dust sources at low latitudes because satellite-based global studies show that such regions are unquestionably the most important dust sources at the present time (Prospero et al., 2002). Concentration of studies on mid-latitude and high-latitude dust sources during the last glacial period is also understandable, because dust production globally during this time was much greater than at present, as seen in ice core records (EPICA Community Members, 2004;Ruth et al., 2007), deep-sea core records (Rea, 1994(Rea, , 2007, and loess r...

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“…Trace element geochemistry can be a powerful tool in loess or dust provenance studies (see review in Muhs, 2013a). We emphasize the use of the relatively immobile trace elements Sc, Th, Cr, Ta, Zr, Hf, As, Sb, and the rare earth elements.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical evidence for seasonal controls on the transportation of Holocene loess, Matanuska Valley, southern Alaska, USA

et al. 2016

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a b s t r a c tLoess is a widespread Quaternary deposit in Alaska and loess accretion occurs today in some regions, such as the Matanuska Valley. The source of loess in the Matanuska Valley has been debated for more than seven decades, with the Knik River and the Matanuska River, both to the east, being the leading candidates and the Susitna River, to the west, as a less favorable source. We report here new stratigraphic, mineralogic, and geochemical data that test the competing hypotheses of these river sources. Loess thickness data are consistent with previous studies that show that a source or sources lay to the east, which rules out the Susitna River as a source. Knik and Matanuska River silts can be distinguished using Sc-Th-La, La N /Yb N vs. Eu/Eu ⁄ , Cr/Sc, and As/Sb. Matanuska Valley loess falls clearly within the range of values for these ratios found in Matanuska River silt. Dust storms from the Matanuska River are most common in autumn, when river discharge is at a minimum and silt-rich point bars are exposed, wind speed from the north is beginning to increase after a low-velocity period in summer, snow depth is still minimal, and soil temperatures are still above freezing. Thus, seasonal changes in climate and hydrology emerge as critical factors in the timing of aeolian silt transport in southern Alaska. These findings could be applicable to understanding seasonal controls on Pleistocene loess accretion in Europe, New Zealand, South America, and elsewhere in North America.Published by Elsevier B.V.

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The geologic records of dust in the Quaternary

Cited by 223 publications

References 246 publications

Identification of sand and dust storm source areas in Iran

Identification of sand and dust storm source areas in Iran

Loess origin, transport, and deposition over the past 10,000years, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Geochemical evidence for seasonal controls on the transportation of Holocene loess, Matanuska Valley, southern Alaska, USA

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