Minor effect of physical size sorting on iron solubility of transported mineral dust

Z. B. Shi, M. T. Woodhouse, K. S. Carslaw, M. D. Krom, G. W. Mann, A. R. Baker, I. Savov, G. Fones, B. Brooks, T. D. Jickells, L. G. Benning

Research output: Working paperPreprint

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Observations show that the fractional solubility of Fe (FS-Fe, ratio of dissolved to total Fe) in dust aerosol increases dramatically from ~0.1% in regions of high dust mass concentration to 80% in remote regions where concentrations are low. Here, we combined laboratory geochemical measurements with global aerosol model simulations to test the hypothesis that the increase in FS-Fe is due to physical size sorting during transport. We determined the FS-Fe and fractional solubility of Al (FS-Al) in size-fractionated dust generated from two representative soil samples collected from known Saharan dust source regions using a customized dust re-suspension and collection system. The results show that the FS-Fe is size-dependent and ranges from 0.1-0.3 % in the coarse size fractions (>1 µm) to ~0.2-0.8 % in the fine size fractions (
Original languageEnglish
PublisherCopernicus Publications
Pages14309-14338
Number of pages30
Volume11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Publication series

NameAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
PublisherCopernicus GmbH
ISSN (Print)1680-7375

Cite this