title: Three Millennia of Southwestern North American Dustiness and Future Implications.
abstract: Two sediment records of dust deposition from Fish Lake, in southern Colorado, offer a new perspective on southwest United States (Southwest) aridity and dustiness over the last ~3000 years. Micro scanning X-ray fluorescence and grain size analysis provide separate measures of wind-deposited dust in the lake sediment. Together these new records confirm anomalous dustiness in the 19th and 20th centuries, associated with recent land disturbance, drought, and livestock grazing. Before significant anthropogenic influences, changes in drought frequency and aridity also generated atmospheric dust loading. Medieval times were associated with high levels of dustiness, coincident with widespread aridity. These records indicate the Southwest is naturally prone to dustiness. As global and regional temperatures rise and the Southwest shifts toward a more arid landscape, the Southwest will likely become dustier, driving negative impacts on snowpack and water availability, as well as human health.
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, 625 S. Knoles Drive, PO Box 4099, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cody C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Routson
authors.affiliation: Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona, 1064 E Lowell St., Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of America.|Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E. 4th St., Gould-Simpson, Room 208, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of America.|Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, 1118 E. 4th St., Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jonathan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Overpeck
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E. 4th St., Gould-Simpson, Room 208, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of America.|School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona, 1064 E. Lowell St., Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of America.|Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 1215 E. Lowell St., Tucson, AZ 85721, United States of America.
authors.forename: Connie A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Woodhouse
authors.affiliation: Land Use and Environmental Change Institute, University of Florida, 241 Williamson Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, United States of America.
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Kenney
mesh_terms: D003120:Colorado; D055864:Droughts; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004602:Elements; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D060106:Lakes; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010316:Particle Size; D011874:Radiometry; D015206:Southwestern United States; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D004602:Elements