Trace element fractionation processes in resuspended mineral aerosols extracted from Australian continental surface materials
Teresa Moreno A C , Fulvio Amato A , Xavier Querol A , Andrés Alastuey A and Wes Gibbons BA Institute of Earth Sciences ‘Jaume Almera’, CSIC, Lluis Solé i Sabarís s/n, Barcelona 08028, Spain.
B AP 23075, Barcelona 08080, Spain.
C Corresponding author. Email: tmoreno@ija.csic.es
Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(2) 128-140 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07121
Submitted: 18 August 2007 Accepted: 15 January 2008 Published: 18 March 2008
Abstract
Unconsolidated surface soil and dust samples of varying trace element (TE) content were collected from remote locations in central and south-eastern Australia. The finer grained fraction of the samples (<10 µm, PM10) was separated and geochemically compared to the parent particulate matter (PMPAR). TE are mostly hosted in phosphates and oxides/hydroxides or adsorbed to clay minerals, and are normally fractionated into the PM10, producing PM10/PMPAR ratios >1, especially in siliceous, TE-depleted dusts. In contrast, samples TE-enriched by primary silicate minerals eroded from igneous and metamorphic rocks can produce PM10/PMPAR <1 for more mobile elements such as K, Na, Ba, Rb, and Sr. K/Rb is normally lower in PM10 (unless the PMPAR is muscovite-rich) as is the light/heavy rare earth elements (LREE/HREE) ratio because both Rb and HREE are preferentially adsorbed by fine clay particles. Zr and Hf are mostly hosted by zircon crystals initially >10 µm but these diminish in size with time and sedimentological transport so that PM10 aerosol concentrations of these elements are typically telescoped into a narrower range than the PMPAR. Nb is strongly fractionated into PM10, with Nb/TiO2 ratios characteristic of the durable host mineral rutile in all but the most TE-enriched PM. TE content of PM10 in continental dusts is controlled by both physical and chemical processes. Fresh primary silicates suppress PM10/PMPAR ratios of TE with low ionic potential, whereas the opposite effect is induced by hydraulic sorting and/or physical attrition during surface transport, as well as clay absorbtion and fixation of TE in small, resistant accessory minerals.
Additional keywords: trace elements, PM10 geochemical fractionation, continental dust.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Jim West (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries) for help supplying the 1 : 25 000 Silverton geological map (Geological Survey of New South Wales).
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