| Title | Asian dustfall in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada |
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| Author | Zdanowicz, C; Hall, G; Vaive, J; Amelin, Y ; Percival, J B; Girard, I; Biscaye, P; Bory, A |
| Source | Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta vol. 70, 2006 p. 3493-3507, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2006.05.005  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2006 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20060047 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Yukon |
| NTS | 116F/09; 116F/10 |
| Area | St. Elias Mountains; Mount Logan |
| Lat/Long WENS | -141.0000 -140.1667 65.7500 65.5000 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; environmental geology; geochemistry; mineralogy; Nature and Environment; snow; snow geochemistry; ice; icefields; climate, arctic; climate; mineral distribution;
sediment distribution; trace element distribution; major element geochemistry; minor element geochemistry; clays; isotopes; lead isotope ratios; strontium strontium ratios; neodymium; neodymium samarium dates; samarium |
| Illustrations | ternary diagrams; plots; graphs; tables |
| Program | Reducing Canada's Vulnerability to Climate Change
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| Released | 2006 07 01 |
| Abstract | In April 2001, a major atmospheric dustfall event occurred in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory, Canada. Field samples were collected and analyzed for particle size, mineralogy, chemical
composition and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes. Dusts found above ~3000 m had their source in the Gobi desert region of northern China and Inner Mongolia, and were transported to the Yukon following a series of major dust storms that took place in early
April. Dusts found below 3000 m had local (Yukon) or mixed source(s). The Asian dusts had a modal volume diameter of ~4 um typical of far-traveled mineral aerosols. However larger (>10 um) particles were also found at ~5000 m, suggesting a very rapid
trans-Pacific transport in the mid-troposphere. We estimate that the April 2001 event deposited from 5500 to 6335 tons of dust over an area of 21,000 km2 in the southwestern Yukon, most of which probably fell within a week. Our findings are
consistent with instrumental observations and model simulations of the April 2001 event. While the dust cloud was reportedly mixed with volatile pollutants from Asia, we found no evidence of metal pollution associated with the dustfall in the Yukon.
Our findings contribute to clarify the dynamics and the geochemical impact of Asian dust long-range transport events, and to better estimate eolian fluxes of dustborne elements (e.g., Fe) to the Ocean associated with such events. They may also assist
in identifying past Asian dust events in ice cores drilled from the St. Elias Mountains icefields, to develop a long-term record of their frequency, magnitude and source(s). |
| GEOSCAN ID | 222179 |
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