Dust Sources in the Salton Sea Basin: A Clear Case of an Anthropogenically Impacted Dust Budget

The Salton Sea Basin in California suffers from poor air quality, and an expanding dry lakebed (playa) presents a new potential dust source. In 2017–18, depositing dust was collected approximately monthly at five sites in the Salton Sea Basin and analyzed for total elemental and soluble anion conten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2019-08, Vol.53 (16), p.9378-9388
Main Authors: Frie, Alexander L, Garrison, Alexis C, Schaefer, Michael V, Bates, Steve M, Botthoff, Jon, Maltz, Mia, Ying, Samantha C, Lyons, Timothy, Allen, Michael F, Aronson, Emma, Bahreini, Roya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air quality
Alluvial deposits
Alluvium
Anthropogenic factors
Antimony
Basins
Beds (geology)
Burning
Cadmium
Calcium
Copper
Dust
Dust control
Fluxes
Heavy metals
Human influences
Iron
Lead
Magnesium
Playas
Strontium
Titanium
Trace metals
Tracers
Zinc
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Summary:The Salton Sea Basin in California suffers from poor air quality, and an expanding dry lakebed (playa) presents a new potential dust source. In 2017–18, depositing dust was collected approximately monthly at five sites in the Salton Sea Basin and analyzed for total elemental and soluble anion content. These data were analyzed with Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). The PMF method resolved seven dust sources with distinct compositional markers: Playa (Mg, SO4 2–, Na, Ca, Sr), Colorado Alluvium (U, Ca), Local Alluvium (Al, Fe, Ti), Agricultural Burning (K, PO4 3–), Sea Spray (Na, Cl–, Se), Anthropogenic Trace Metals (Sb, As, Zn, Cd, Pb, Na), and Anthropogenic Copper (Cu). All sources except Local Alluvium are influenced or caused by current or historic anthropogenic activities. PMF attributed 55 to 80% of the measured dust flux to these six sources. The dust fluxes at the site where the playa source was dominant (89 g m–2 yr–1) were less than, but approaching the scale of, those observed at Owens Lake playas in the late 20th century. Playa emissions in the Salton Sea region were most intense during the late spring to early summer and contain high concentrations of evaporite mineral tracers, particularly Mg, Ca, and SO4 2–.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.9b02137