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Increasing eolian dust deposition in the western United States linked to human activity

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 189–195 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Mineral aerosols from dust are an important influence on climate and on marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles. These aerosols are generated from wind erosion of surface soils. The amount of dust emission can therefore be affected by human activities that alter surface sediments. However, changes in regional- and global-scale dust fluxes following the rapid expansion of human populations and settlements over the past two centuries are not well understood. Here we determine the accumulation rates and geochemical properties of alpine lake sediments from the western interior United States for the past 5,000 years. We find that dust load levels increased by 500% above the late Holocene average following the increased western settlement of the United States during the nineteenth century. We suggest that the increased dust deposition is caused by the expansion of livestock grazing in the early twentieth century. The larger dust flux, which persists into the early twenty-first century, results in a more than fivefold increase in inputs of K, Mg, Ca, N and P to the alpine ecosystems, with implications for surface-water alkalinity, aquatic productivity and terrestrial nutrient cycling.

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Figure 1: Sediment accumulation rates and physical properties.
Figure 2: Dust, bedrock and sediment isotopic characteristics.
Figure 3: Dust isotopic properties and texture.
Figure 4: Elemental fluxes for two alpine lakes in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by an A. W. Mellon Foundation grant to J.C.N. with additional analytical support for the project provided by the US Geological Survey Earth Surface Dynamics Program. Additional support was provided by the National Science Foundation of the United States and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. P. Molnar, A. Townsend, G. Miller and four anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. We also appreciate the assistance of the Limnological Research Center Core Facility at the University of Minnesota in core density measurements for this study and Dave DeMaster for assistance with 210Pb dating.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Sciences Department, University of Colorado at Boulder, CB399, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

    J. C. Neff, A. P. Ballantyne, G. L. Farmer & C. R. Lawrence

  2. Environmental Studies Program, CB397, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

    J. C. Neff

  3. Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES), CB 399, 80309, USA

    G. L. Farmer

  4. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    N. M. Mahowald

  5. Climate and Global Dynamics Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado 80304, USA

    N. M. Mahowald

  6. Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1040 E 4th St, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

    J. L. Conroy & J. T. Overpeck

  7. Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies, Silverton, Colorado 81443, PO Box 190, USA

    C. C. Landry

  8. Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, The University of Arizona, 715 N. Park Ave, 2nd Floor, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

    J. T. Overpeck

  9. The Department of Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Arizona, 1118 E 4th St, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

    J. T. Overpeck

  10. Department of Geography, 260 S. Central Campus Dr, University of Utah, 84112, USA

    T. H. Painter

  11. Earth Surface Processes Team, US Geological Survey, MS980, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA

    R. L. Reynolds

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  1. J. C. Neff
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Contributions

All authors commented on the manuscript and participated in the analysis of project results. J.C.N. and A.P.B. designed and carried out the study and J.C.N. developed the paper. G.L.F. carried out the isotopic analysis and aided in the interpretation of sediment isotopic chemistry. N.M.M. provided assistance in evaluating project results in comparison with global patterns in dust deposition. J.L.C., J.T.O., C.R.L. and R.L.R. analysed sediment core and dust chemistry. T.H.P. and C.C.L. developed and implemented dust sampling protocols for snowpack and assisted in sampling.

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Correspondence to J. C. Neff.

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Neff, J., Ballantyne, A., Farmer, G. et al. Increasing eolian dust deposition in the western United States linked to human activity. Nature Geosci 1, 189–195 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo133

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