First long-term detection of paleo-oceanic signature of dust aerosol at the southern marginal area of the Taklimakan Desert

Qi Zhou; Juan Li; Jian Xu; Xiaofei Qin; Congrui Deng; Joshua S Fu; Qiongzhen Wang; Mijiti Yiming; Kan Huang; Guoshun Zhuang

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-25166-5

First long-term detection of paleo-oceanic signature of dust aerosol at the southern marginal area of the Taklimakan Desert

Sci Rep. 2018 Apr 30;8(1):6779. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-25166-5.

Authors

Qi Zhou¹, Juan Li¹, Jian Xu¹, Xiaofei Qin¹, Congrui Deng¹, Joshua S Fu², Qiongzhen Wang³, Mijiti Yiming⁴, Kan Huang^{5

6}, Guoshun Zhuang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Center for Atmospheric Chemistry Study, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA.
³ Environmental Science Research & Design Institute of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310007, China.
⁴ Hetian Environmental Monitoring Center, Hetian, 848000, China.
⁵ Center for Atmospheric Chemistry Study, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China. huangkan@fudan.edu.cn.
⁶ Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China. huangkan@fudan.edu.cn.
⁷ Center for Atmospheric Chemistry Study, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China. gzhuang@fudan.edu.cn.

Abstract

We firstly conducted a long-term in-situ field measurement at a marginal area (Hotan) of the southern Taklimakan Desert covering all four seasons. Detailed chemical characterization of dust aerosol over Hotan showed several unconventional features, including (1) ubiquity of high Na⁺ and Cl^- abundances in the Taklimakan dust aerosol and its Cl^-/Na⁺ ratio close to seawater; (2) high Ca content in the Taklimakan dust (7.4~8.0%) which was about two times of that in the natural crust; (3) high abundance of soluble sulfate concentrations and strong correlations between sulfate and Na⁺ and Cl^- as well as typical mineral tracers such as Al and Ca. Our results collectively indicated that the dust aerosol from the Taklimakan Desert was characterized of evident paelo-oceanic signature as the Taklimakan Desert was found as an ocean in the ancient times from the perspective of paleogeology. It was estimated that primary sources dominated the total abundances of sulfate during the dust seasons while previous climate modeling works had seldom considered the cooling effects of sulfate from the Taklimakan Desert.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't