Investigation of Dust Emission Hotspots in Chihuahuan Desert … · 2016-07-14 · Investigation of...
Transcript of Investigation of Dust Emission Hotspots in Chihuahuan Desert … · 2016-07-14 · Investigation of...
Investigation of Dust Emission Hotspots in
Chihuahuan Desert Playa Basins
Principal Investigators: Thomas E. Gill, UTEP
Miguel Dominguez Acosta, UACJ
Graduate Student Researchers: Nancy I. Rivera Rivera
Adriana E. Perez
Alfredo Ruiz
Sonny Emmert
Sabrina Canalda
THE PROBLEM:
• Windblown desert dust- primarily from
natural sources near the US/Mexico
border in the Chihuahuan Desert region
of Chihuahua, Texas, and New Mexico-
creates intense plumes of particulate
matter (primarily coarse but also fine
particles)
THE PROBLEM:• This dust may advect in from the desert to populated areas
such as El Paso/ Cd. Juarez, Las Cruces, Palomas/ Columbus,
and other cities.
Image from TCEQ Chelsea Street Webcam, El Paso
PM 10 Concentrations 12/15/03
El Paso Hourly
max over 1200
µg/m3
San Antonio- spike to ~900 µg/m3
LRGV- > 600µg/m3
source
receptor
Long-distance
transport
All The Way to Canada
“Dirty
Bomb”
???
In contrast to urban fugitive dust in Chihuahuan Desert border cities, which has
been investigated in a number of projects, these desert dust storms have been very
poorly described and understood. Their sources and transport patterns were only
very crudely known, the specific atmospheric and land-surface conditions that
cause them poorly understood, and the composition and characteristics of these
aerosols and their emitting source materials had not been analyzed. The motivation
of this project was to begin to better understand these “natural” dust events.
Wind Direction of El Paso Dust Events 1932-2006
Where Does It Come From?
What’s There Where It Comes From?Prospero et al. (“Global sources of atmospheric soil dust…,” Reviews of Geophysics 40, 2002) stated,
This, in fact, very well describes the source area of an April 2001 dust event previously studied by the PI: and the major sources of dust on a global basis are known to be dry lake beds recently wet in the geological past, especially where they are associated with large sand deposits.
Image from PACES, UTEP
“In Mexico, there is a substantial but variably active (dust) source
just south of the U.S.- Mexico border… where there is an extensive
system of playas and aeolian, lacustrine and alluvial sediments….
There is a second center of activity farther to the southeast also in
the Basin and Range portion of Mexico.”
The Culprit!!!
(???)
“Remote
sensing
wizardry” was
applied to a
huge database
of satellite
imagery to
detect the
actual source
points of large
dust plumes.
Source
Locations
for Dust
Plume
Outbreaks
(Nancy
Rivera,
UTEP M.S.
Thesis
defended
11/2006)
RESULTS:
YES, PLAYAS ARE
IMPORTANT… but it’s not
that cut and dried.
Lake Palomas- clay playa
White Sands (Lake Lucero/
Lake Otero)- saline playa
About half the dust sources do turn out to be
associated with playas (dry lakes). Especially
important turns out to be the EDGES of playas-
where there is an interface between loose sands
and fine clay and silt particles which become dust.
Desert shrublands/ rangelands not
associated with playas are also an
important contributor- especially areas
with coppice dunes and lots of sand.
Agricultural lands, especially in Casas Grandes
River valley (Chih.) are a small but persistent source
of dust: lands are fallow in windy winter season
NEXT STEP: visit many of these dust source sites (ground
truthing) and characterize their geology/land use, sediment
and soil characteristics, and collect samples for additional
analysis of sedimentology and chemistry.
Passive blowing dust and sand sampling traps were deployed at several sites
and are being monitored regularly.
The remoteness of these sites and the
infrequency of individual dust events
generally precluded active aerosol
sampling. However, an opportunity did
arise to collect aerosol samples at two
sites near the White Sands sources in
2005 thanks to a collaboration with
White Sands Missile Range and two
other universities.
(These data still being analyzed)
Field reconnaissance revealed some surprises. A few anthropogenically dis-
turbed sites were also discovered (cattle corrals, and this site precisely at a dust
source point in the middle of nowhere: anyone know what was going on here?)
Particle Size Distribution
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 3000
Particle Size (µm)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Volu
me (
%)
EAST HARBOR GRAB 2 - Average, Monday, August 08, 2005 3:02:22 PM
DRY EASTHARBOR GRAB 1 - Average, Monday, August 08, 2005 3:58:30 PM
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF DUST-EMITTING SOILS
Measured via laser diffraction
White Sands, saline gypsum playa soil: red line shows particle size distribution
when wet, green line shows when dry.
Notice the double peak (sand and ~ 10µm) in dry White Sands surface soil.
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF DUST-EMITTING SOILS
Measured via laser diffraction
Agricultural soil. Notice the long tail of very fine particles as small as 2 µm.
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF DUST-EMITTING SOILS
Measured via laser diffraction
Near shore of paleo-lake Palomas in Chihuahua. Sequence of three samples
moving from the playa surface (green) to sand sheet away from the shore (blue).
Notice the playa surface clay (particles submicron to a few microns) and fine
particles as small as 1µm, and the three distinct populations of particles: clay,
silt (10- 20 µm) and sand (100- 200 µm).
Particle Size Distribution
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 3000
Particle Size (µm)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Volu
me (
%)
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF DUST-EMITTING SOILS
Particle Size Distribution
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 3000
Particle Size (µm)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Volu
me (
%)
Wind erosion process: requires both
coarse particles (~100 µm) for saltation
motion close to the ground that
“sandblasts” and “kicks” fine dust
particles into the atmosphere
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF DUST-EMITTING SOILS
The environment on and near the edge of many playas (dry lake beds) is
perfect for windblown dust emission due to the presence of sand (provides
the energy and work of saltation and sandblasting) and silt and clay (get
blasted off into the atmosphere as dust aerosols).
Particle Size Distribution
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 3000
Particle Size (µm)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Volu
me (
%)
Particle Size Distribution
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 3000
Particle Size (µm)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Volu
me (
%)
COR 014 (CSa)
COR 015 (CSa)
COR 004 (SSa)
Samalayuca Lake Palomas Corridor Particle Size (μm)
As sand moves downwind towards the Samalayuca dunes, it initially (blue) contains a
“tail” of fine particles (even as fine as submicron), and as the sand bounces downwind
towards the Samalayuca dunes (red) the fine material disappears… where did it go? It
turned to dust and blew out! Natural “winnowing” process cleans the sand and results
in these dust events.
Electron microscopic analysis of particles
recovered from individual dust events reveals
aggregates (clumps) of much finer particles.
X-ray spectrometric elemental analysis of dust
source materials may be usable to gain chemical
“signatures” of individual source types and
assess the possibility of health impacts.
Concentration (Ratioed to "Al")
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
COR 014 (CSa)
COR 015 (CSa)
COR 004 (SSa)
Iron %
Titanium %
Calcium %
Potasium %
Chlorine %
Sulphur %
Silicon %
Aluminum %
Magnesium %
Sodium %
Metals such as lead, zinc and arsenic have been
detected in individual dust-source soil samples.
Implicatio
ns
Additional Findings-
As well as helping us work
towards answering some
questions, this study has
helped provoke some new
ones as well.
Implicatio
ns
The relatively random
distribution of source
points from event to
event- even within pre-
ferred areas- suggests to
us that the actual
initiation spots of dust
events may be controlled
to a large degree by
small-scale meteorolo-
gical fluctuations
(relatively chaotic), as
opposed to land surface
or geological factors
(relatively predictable).
Additional Findings
Implicatio
ns
Many of the source
points are on the
downwind side of
mountain ranges,
suggesting the possible
role of topography-
enhanced wind flows in
provoking dust
emission: in the future
we hope to be able to
model this and
investigate this
possibility further.
JOURNAL ARTICLE SUBMITTED:
Lee, J.A., T.E. Gill, K.R. Mulligan, M.A. Dominguez, and A.E. Perez, in review. Land use/land cover and point sources of the 15 December 2003 dust storm in southwestern
North America. Submitted to Geomorphology.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS:
Rivera Rivera, N.I., M.P. Bleiweiss, J.L. Hand, and T.E. Gill, 2006. Characterization of dust storms' sources in southwestern U. S and northwestern Mexico using remote sensing
imagery. Preprints of the 14th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, American Meteorological Society, January 2006, Atlanta, GA, #P3.9, 17 pp.
Novlan, D.J., M. Hardiman, and T.E. Gill, 2007. A synoptic climatology of blowing dust events in El Paso, Texas from 1932-2005. Preprints of the 16th Conference on Applied
Climatology, American Meteorological Society, January 2007, San Antonio, TX , #J3.12, 13 pp.
ABSTRACTS OF CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS:
Cahill, C.F., Y. Yee, T.E. Gill, A. Ruiz, S.P. Emmert, T.A. Cahill, F. Wilson, and E. Ellison, 2005. Springtime dust aerosols at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. EOS
(Transactions, American Geophysical Union) 86 (52 supp.): P22B- 02.
Rivera Rivera, N.I., T.E. Gill, M.P. Bleiweiss, J.L. Hand, M.A. Dominguez, A. Ruiz, A.E. Perez, S.P. Emmert, J.A. Lee, and K.R. Mulligan, 2005. Detection and preliminary
assessment of source areas of the 15 December 2003 dust storm in the Chihuahuan Desert, southwestern North America. EOS (Transactions, American Geophysical Union)
86 (52 supp.): H51C-0389.
Emmert, S.P., and T.E. Gill, 2006. Source apportionment and composition of precipitation and wet deposition in the Paso Del Norte airshed. Abstracts of the Eighth Conference
on Atmospheric Chemistry, American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January 2006, Abstract #J5.2.
Canalda, S.M., T.E. Gill, and S.P. Emmert, 2006. Long-range transport of particles from regional dust storms originating in the Chihuahuan Desert. Program and Abstracts, New
Mexico Geological Society 2006 Spring Meeting, Socorro, April 2006, p. 10.
Dominguez, M.A., T.E. Gill, and R. Schmidt, 2006. The Lake Palomas - Samalayuca dune corridor system, Chihuahua, Mexico. In: Nickling, W.G., S. Turner, J.A. Gillies and M.
Puddister, editors, Program and Abstracts of the Sixth International Conference on Aeolian Research, Guelph, Canada, July 2006, p. 80.
Rivera Rivera, N.I., T.E. Gill, M.P. Bleiweiss, and J.L. Hand, 2006. Detection and characterization of dust source areas in the Chihuahuan Desert, southwestern North America,
through remote sensing. In: Nickling, W.G., S. Turner, J.A. Gillies and M. Puddister, editors, Program and Abstracts of the Sixth International Conference on Aeolian Research,
Guelph, Canada, July 2006, p. 140.
Lee, J.A., T.E. Gill, K.R. Mulligan, M.A. Dominguez, A.E. Perez, and A. Ruiz, 2006. Land use/land cover and point sources of the 15 December 2003 dust storm in southwestern
North America. In: Nickling, W.G., S. Turner, J.A. Gillies and M. Puddister, editors, Program and Abstracts of the Sixth International Conference on Aeolian Research, Guelph,
Canada, July 2006, p. 142.
Gill, T.E., R.J. Vet, P.E. Biscaye, M.P. Bleiweiss, and M. Shaw, 2006. Recurrent transcontinental dust transport from southwestern North America to Canada. In: Nickling, W.G.,
S. Turner, J.A. Gillies and M. Puddister, editors, Program and Abstracts of the Sixth International Conference on Aeolian Research, Guelph, Canada, July 2006, p. 150.
Project- Related Professional Meetings, Conferences, Symposia, & Workshops Attended:
American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2005.
American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January 2006
UTEP Geological Sciences Colloquium, March 2006
Sixth International Conference on Aeolian Research, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, July 2006.
National Park Service, Chihuahuan Desert Inventory & Monitoring Network (CHDN) Vital Signs Prioritization Workshop, El Paso, TX, August 2006
Undergraduate Research Students:
Canalda, Sabrina (Senior, Geology)- 2005/06.
Graduate Thesis Completed
Rivera Rivera, Nancy I., December 2006 (M.S., Environmental Science, UTEP), “Detection and Characterization of Dust Source Areas in the Chihuahuan Desert, Southwestern
North America.”
4 Additional Graduate Students Supported and/or Perfoming Thesis/Dissertation Research Related To This Project.
6 Or More Journal Articles In Development (should be submitted in 2007) Related To The Findings Of This Project.
2 Additional Proposals Submitted To Date (1 Funded) Related To This Project… More To Come
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