title: Characterization of saline dust emission resulted from Urmia Lake drying.
abstract: Compared with common dust storms, saline dust storms transport high concentrations of fine-grain saline and alkaline material. The saline dust storm differs from common dust storm, especially considering the sources of the suspended particulate matter (PM), chemical composition, grain size, and circulation processes. Atmospheric particulate matters (TSP, PM10, PM2.5, and PM1) and their water-soluble ions were concurrently measured at two sites located at north and southeast part of Urmia lake from January 2013 to September 2013. Particulate matters (PMs) were measured using high volume sampler and HAZ-DUST EPAM-5000 particulate air monitors. In both of the sampling sites, the highest concentration of PM was observed during the summer season (521.6, 329.1, 42.6, and 36.5 for TSP, PM10, PM2.5, and PM1, respectively). A total of 11 inorganic water-soluble ions in the TSP and PM10 were identified by ion chromatography (IC). No statistically significant difference was found between PM's ions concentrations of two sampling sites. The average of the total measured water-soluble ions in the sampling sites was 28.75 ± 12.9 μg/m(3) (11.9 ± 4.8% of total TSP mass) for TSP and 14.65 ± 7.1μg/m(3) (8.7 ± 4.4 of total PM10 mass) for PM10. Among all detected ions, sulfate was the dominant constituent followed by nitrate and sodium. This study showed that the water soluble salts compose 3-20% of the total mass of TSP and PM10. The PCA analysis showed that saline particulates formed from Urmia lake bed were the dominant source (57.6 %) of TSP. In addition, saline particulates together with crustal materials resulted from resuspension were the main source (59.9%) of PM10.
authors.affiliation: Center for Air Pollution Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; School of Public Health, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Akbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gholampour
authors.affiliation: Center for Air Pollution Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ramin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nabizadeh
authors.affiliation: Center for Air Pollution Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Sadegh
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hassanvand
authors.affiliation: Center for Air Pollution Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Taghipour
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahrokh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nazmara
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Center for Solid Waste Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; National Institute of Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Hossein
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Mahvi
keywords: Ions correlation; Particulate matters; Saline dust; Source identification; Urmia Lake; Water-soluble ions