Abstract
The aim of this work is to evaluate the dynamics of dust deposition and characterize its elemental composition in case study at Chubut coastal Patagonia in Argentina after a shrubland fire. On 22 December 2016, a fire took place (42°20′ S–65° W) covering ~ 30 thousand hectares (300 km2) of shrublands. Immediately after the fire (2 January 2017), monthly deposition of dust was recorded using passive collectors in burned and control regions until December 2017. The dust plume of the burned region, visible from MODIS imagery, reached more than 150 km from the coast toward the marine area. In the burned region, dust deposition rates peaked in February (84.75 mg/day m−2), decreased until May (mean value = 12 mg/day m−2), and afterward remained constant (mean value = 10 mg/day m−2) above background level during the studied period. In the control region, dust deposition was constant and significantly lower (mean value = 0.19 mg/day m−2). Overall, the dust elemental composition was mainly Si and O corresponding to silicate minerals. Material from the burned region presented peaks of C. On the other hand, C signals were not present in the dust from the control region. The presence of C, suggests a direct consequence of the burned vegetation. The burned region may become a significant source of dust due to the reduced vegetation coverage, and may constitute an additional input of C into the marine ecosystem. The present study is the first report that provides insights that a burned region in Patagonia may act as a dust source.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of Data and Material
All data and material are available under explicit request to corresponding author.
Code Availability
Not applicable.
Change history
18 February 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-022-00299-w
References
Bertiller M (1984) Specific primary productivity dynamics in arid ecosystems: a case study in Patagonia, Argentina. Acta Oecologica Oecologia Generalis 5(4):365–381
Bertiller MB, Beeskow AM, Coronato F (1991) Seasonal environmental variation and plant phenology in arid Patagonia (Argentina). J Arid Environ 21(1):1–11
Bisigato AJ, Bertiller MB (1997) Grazing effects on patchy dryland vegetation in northern Patagonia. J Arid Environ 36(4):639–653
Crespi-Abril AC, Montes AMI, Williams GN, Carrasco MF (2016) Uso de sensores remotos para la detección de eventos de transporte eólico de sedimentos hacia ambientes marinos en Patagonia. Meteorol 41(2):33–47
Crespi-Abril AC, Soria G, De Cian A, López-Moreno C (2018a) Roaring forties: an analysis of a decadal series of data of dust in Northern Patagonia. Atmos Environ 177:111–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.11.019
Crespi-Abril AC, Barbieri ES, Villalobos LG, Soria G, Paparazzo FE, Paczkowska JM, Gonçalves RJ (2018b) Perspective: continental Inputs of Matter into Planktonic Ecosystems of the Argentinean Continental Shelf—the Case of Atmospheric Dust. In: Hoffmeyer M, Sabatini ME, Brandini F, Calliari D, Santinelli NH (Eds) Plankton ecology of the Southwestern Atlantic. Luxemburg: Springer, pp 87–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77869-3_5
Duce RA, LaRoche J, Altieri K, Arrigo KR, Baker AR, Capone DG, Cornell S, Dentener F, Galloway J, Ganeshram RS, Geider RJ, Jickells T, Kuypers MM, Langlois R, Liss PS, Liu SM, Middelburg JJ, Moore CM, Nickovic S, Oschlies A, Pedersen T, Prospero J, Schlitzer R, Seitzinger S, Sorensen LL, Uematsu M, Ulloa O, Voss M, Ward B, Geider RJ (2008) Impacts of atmospheric anthropogenic nitrogen on the open ocean. Science 320(5878):893–897
Gaiero DM, Probst JL, Depetris PJ, Bidart SM, Leleyter L (2003) Iron and other transition metals in Patagonian riverborne and windborne materials: geochemical control and transport to the southern South Atlantic Ocean. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 67(19):3603–3623
Gassó S, Stein AF (2007) Does dust from Patagonia reach the sub-Antarctic Atlantic Ocean? Geophys Res Lett. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027693
Gassó S, Torres O (2019) Temporal characterization of dust activity in the Central Patagonia desert (years 1964–2017). J Geophys Res Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030209
Ghermandi L, Guthmann N, Bran D (2004) Early post-fire succession in northwestern Patagonia grasslands. J Veg S 15(1):67–76
Gonzalez-Martin C, Teigell-Perez N, Valladares B, Griffin DW (2014) The global dispersion of pathogenic microorganisms by dust storms and its relevance to agriculture. Adv Argonomy 127:1–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800131-8.00001-7
Guieu C, Bonnet S, Wagener T, Loÿe Pilot MD (2005) Biomass burning as a source of dissolved iron to the open ocean? Geophys Res Lett 32(19):L19608. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL022962
Hamilton DS, Moore JK, Arneth A, Bond TC, Carslaw KS, Hantson S, Ito A, Kaplan JO, Lindsay K, Nieradzik L, Rathod SD (2020) Impact of changes to the atmospheric soluble iron depositionflux on ocean biogeochemical cycles in the anthropocene. Glob Biogeochem Cycl 34:e2019GB006448. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GB006448
Hardtke LA, Blanco PD, del Valle HF, Metternicht GI, Sione WF (2015a) Semi-automated mapping of burned areas in semi-arid ecosystems using MODIS time-series imagery. Int J Appl Earth Obs Geoinf 38:25–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2014.11.011
Hardtke LA, Blanco PD, del Valle HF, Metternicht GI, Sione WF (2015b) Automated mapping of burned areas in semi-arid ecosystems using modis time-series imagery. Int Arch Photo Rem Sens Spat Info Sci 40(7):811. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XL-7-W3-811-2015
Ishizuka M, Mikami M, Leys J, Yamada Y, Heidenreich S, Shao Y, McTainsh GH (2008) Effects of soil moisture and dried raindroplet crust on saltation and dust emission. J Geophys Res Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD009955
Ito A, Myriokefalitakis S, Kanakidou M, Mahowald NM, Scanza RA, Hamilton DS, Baker AR, Jickells T, Sarin M, Bikkina S, Gao Y, Shelley R, Buck C, Landing W, Bowie A, Perron M, Guieu C, Meskhidze N, Johnson M, Feng Y, Kok J, Nenes A, Duce R (2019) Pyrogenic iron: The missing link to high iron solubility in aerosols. Sci Adv 5(5):eaau7671. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau7671
Ito A, Ye Y, Yamamoto A, Watanabe M, Aita MN (2020) Responses of oceanbiogeochemistry to atmospheric supply of lithogenic and pyrogenic iron-containing aerosols. Geol Mag 157(5):741–756. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756819001080
Jafari R, Malekian M (2015) Comparison and evaluation of dust detection algorithms using MODIS Aqua/Terra Level 1B data and MODIS/OMI dust products in the Middle East. Int J Rem Sens 36(2):597–617. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2014.999880
Jickells TD, An ZS, Andersen KK, Baker AR, Bergametti G, Brooks N, Cao JJ, Boyd PW, Duce RA, Hunter KA, Hawahata H, Kubilay N, laRoche J, Liss PS, Mahowald N, Prospero JM, Rigwell AJ, Tegen I, Torres R (2005) Global iron connections between desert dust, ocean biogeochemistry, and climate. Science 308(5718):67–71. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1105959
Johnson MS, Meskhidze N, Solmon F, Gassó S, Chuang PY, Gaiero DM, Yantosca RM, Wu S, Wang Y, Carouge C (2010) Modeling dust and soluble iron deposition to the South Atlantic Ocean. J Geophys Res Atmos 115(D15202):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD013311
Kaufman YJ, Tanré D, Boucher O (2002) A satellite view of aerosols in the climatesystem. Nature 419(6903):215–223. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01091
Kitzberger T, Veblen TT, Villalba R (1997) Climatic influences on fire regimes along a rain forest-to-xeric woodland gradient in northern Patagonia, Argentina. J Biogeog 24(1):35–47
Kok JF, Parteli EJ, Michaels TI, Karam DB (2012) The physics of wind-blown sand and dust. Rep Prog Phys 75(10):106901. https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/75/10/106901
Le Canut P, Andreae MO, Harris GW, Wienhold FG, Zenker T (1996) Airborne studies of emissions from savanna fires in southern Africa: 1. Aerosol emissions measured with a laser optical particle counter. J Geophys Res Atmos 101(D19):23615–23630
Lekunberri I, Lefort T, Romero E, Vázquez-Domínguez E, Romera-Castillo C, Marrasé C, Peters F, Weinbauer M, Gasol JM (2010) Effects of a dust deposition event on coastal marine microbial abundance and activity, bacterial community structure and ecosystem function. J Plan Res 32(4):381–396. https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbp137
León RJ, Bran D, Collantes M, Paruelo JM, Soriano A (1998) Grandes unidades de vegetación de la Patagonia extra andina. Ecol Aust 8(2):125–144
Li F, Ginoux P, Ramaswamy V (2008) Distribution, transport, and deposition of mineral dust in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica: contribution of major sources. J Geophys Res-Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009190
Maher BA, Prospero JM, Mackie D, Gaiero D, Hesse PP, Balkanski Y (2010) Global connections between aeolian dust, climate and ocean biogeochemistry at the present day and at the last glacial maximum. Earth Sci Rev 99(1–2):61–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2009.12.001
Mahowald NM, Hamilton DS, Mackey KRM, Moore JK, Baker AR, Scanza RA, Zhang Y (2018) Aerosol trace metal leaching and impacts on marine microorganisms. Nat Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04970-7
Maring H, Savoie DL, Izaguirre MA, McCormick C, Arimoto R, Prospero JM, Pilinis C (2000) Aerosol physical and optical properties and their relationship to aerosol composition in the free troposphere at Izana, Tenerife, Canary Islands, during July 1995. J Geophys Res Atmos 105(D11):14677–14700
Matsui H, Mahowald NM, Moteki N, Hamilton DS, Ohata S, Yoshida A, Koike M, Scanza RA, Flanner MG (2018) Anthropogenic combustion iron as a complex climate forcer. Nat Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03997-0
McCullagh P, John N (1989) Generalized Linear Models, 2nd edn. Chapman and Hall/CRC, Boca Raton (ISBN 0-412-31760-5)
Mendez J, Guieu C, Adkins J (2010) Atmospheric input of manganese and iron to the ocean: seawater dissolution experiments with Saharan and North American dusts. Mar Chem 120(1–4):34–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2008.08.006
Montes A, Rodríguez SS, Domínguez CE (2017) Geomorphology context and characterization of dunefields developed by the southern westerlies at drying Colhué Huapi shallow lake, Patagonia Argentina. Aeolian Res 28:58–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2017.08.001
Niu H, Zhang D, Hu W, Shi J, Li R, Gao H, Pian W, Hu M (2016) Size and elemental composition of dry-deposited particles during a severe dust storm at a coastal site of Eastern China. J Environ Scie 25(4):957–968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2015.09.016
Paparazzo FE, Crespi-Abril AC, Gonçalves RJ, Barbieri ES, Gracia Villalobos LL, Solís ME, Soria G (2018) Patagonian dust as a source of macronutrients in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean. Oceanography 31(4):33–39. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2018.408
Paruelo JM, Beltrán A, Jobbagy E, Sala OE, Golluscio RA (1999) The climate of Patagonia: general patterns and controls on biotic processes. Ecol Aust 8(2):85–101
Paruelo JM, Oesterheld M, Di Bella CM, Arzadum M, Lafontaine J, Cahuepé M, Rebella CM (2000) Estimation of primary production of subhumid rangelands from remote sensing data. Appl Veg Sci 3(2):189–195. https://doi.org/10.2307/1478997
Paruelo JM, Golluscio RA, Guerschman JP, Cesa A, Jouve VV, Garbulsky MF (2004) Regional scale relationships between ecosystem structure and functioning: the case of the Patagonian steppes. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 13(5):385–395. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-822X.2004.00118.x
Paytan A, Mackey KR, Chen Y, Lima ID, Doney SC, Mahowald N, Labiosa R, Post AF (2009) Toxicity of atmospheric aerosols on marine phytoplankton. P Natl A Sci 106(12):4601–4605. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811486106
Peter G, Funk FA, Robles SST (2013) Responses of vegetation to different land-use histories involving grazing and fire in the North-east Patagonian Monte. Argent Rangel J 35(3):273–283. https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ12093
Pierson FB, Robichaud PR, Spaeth KE (2001) Spatial and temporal effects of wildfire on the hydrology of a steep rangeland watershed. Hydrol Processes 15(15):2905–2916. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.381
Piñeiro G, Oesterheld M, Paruelo JM (2006) Seasonal variation in aboveground production and radiation-use efficiency of temperate rangelands estimated through remote sensing. Ecosystems 9(3):357–373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-005-0013-x
Prospero JM, Ginoux P, Torres O, Nicholson SE, Gill TE (2002) Environmental characterization of global sources of atmospheric soil dust identified with the Nimbus 7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) absorbing aerosol product. Rev Geophys 40(1):1–31. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000RG000095
Pye K (1987) Aeolian dust and dust deposits. Academic Press, London
Pye K (1995) The nature, origin and accumulation of loess. Quaternary Sci Rev 14:653–667
Qu PZ (2016) Chemical properties of continental aerosol transported over the southern ocean: patagonian and namibian sources, PhD Thesis. Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France
Ravi S, Zobeck TM, Over TM, Okin GS, D’Odorico P (2006a) On the effect of wet bonding forces in air-dry soils on threshold friction velocity of wind erosion. Sedimentology 53(3):597–609. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2006.00775.x
Ravi S, D’Odorico P, Herbert B, Zobeck T, Over TM (2006b) Enhancement of wind erosion by fire-induced water repellency. Water Resour Res 42(W11422):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006WR004895
Ravi S, D’Odorico P, Zobeck TM, Over TM, Collins SL (2007) Feedbacks between fires and wind erosion in heterogeneous arid lands. J Geophys Res-Biogeosci 112(G4):1–7. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JG000474
Ridgwell AJ (2002) Dust in the Earth system: the biogeochemical linking of land, air and sea. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser A Math Phys Eng Sci 360(1801):2905–2924. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2002.1096
Sankey JB, Germino MJ, Glenn NF (2009) Aeolian sediment transport following wildfire in sagebrush steppe. J Arid Environ 73(10):912–919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.03.016
Sankey JB, Eitel JU, Glenn NF, Germino MJ, Vierling LA (2011) Quantifying relationships of burning, roughness, and potential dust emission with laser altimetry of soil surfaces at submeter scales. Geomorphology 135(1–2):81–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.08.016
Schreuder LT, Hopmans E, Stuut JBW, Damsté JS, Schouten S (2018) Transport and deposition of the fire biomarker levoglucosan across the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. Geochim Cosmoch 227:171–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.02.020
Simoneit BR, Elias VO (2000) Organic tracers from biomass burning in atmospheric particulate matter over the ocean. Mar Chem 69(3–4):301–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4203(00)00008-6
Tsoar H, Pye K (1987) Dust transport and the question of desert loess formation. Sedimentology 34:139–153
Veblen TT, Kitzberger T, Villalba R, Donnegan J (1999) Fire history in northern Patagonia: the roles of humans and climatic variation. Ecol Monogr 69(1):47–67
Wagener T, Guieu C, Losno R, Bonnet S, Mahowald N (2008) Revisiting atmospheric dust export to the Southern Hemisphere ocean: Biogeochemical implications. Global Biogeochem Cy 22(GB2006):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GB002984
Weichenthal SA, Godri Pollitt K, Villeneuve PJ (2013) PM2.5, oxidant defence and cardiorespiratory health: a review. Environ Health 127:1–40. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-12-40
Whicker JJ, Breshears DD, Wasiolek PT, Kirchner TB, Tavani RA, Schoep DA, Rodgers JC (2002) Temporal and spatial variation of episodic wind erosion in unburned and burned semiarid shrubland. J Environ Qual 31(2):599–612
Yahdjian L, Sala OE (2006) Vegetation structure constrains primary production response to water availability in the Patagonian steppe. Ecology 87(4):952–962. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[952:VSCPPR]2.0.CO;2
Zhang Y, Yu Q, Ma W, Chen L (2010) Atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen to the eastern China seas and its implications to marine biogeochemistry. J Geophys Res-Atmos 115(D7):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012814
Zhang X, Zhao L, Tong DQ, Wu G, Dan M, Teng B (2016) A systematic review of global desert dust and associated human health effects. Atmosphere 7(12):158. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos7120158
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Dr. O. Frumento for setting up the meteorological station and maintenance of wind records database, also to Dr. J. P. Pisoni for his revision of the manuscript. Thanks to the Administration de Parques Nacionales (APN) for their assistance with the field work. Also we are grateful to Fundación Patagonia Naturalfor providing the access to La Esperanza where the study was conducted. We acknowledge the use of imagery from the NASA Worldview application (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov), part of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). We thank two anonymous reviewers for revising and providing helpful comments, which improved the manuscript. This study was partially founded by the Argentine “Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica” through the project PICT-2018-870 granted to A. Crespi-Abril and PICT-2015-1715 granted to G. Soria. The analyses of the samples were conducted in ALUAR S.A.I.C. in the framework of the cooperation project No. 6213/15. The meteorological station was installed under permit DISPOSCION N 142 SsCyAP/17
Funding
This study was partially founded by the Argentine “Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica” through the project PICT-2018-870 granted to A. Crespi-Abril and PICT-2015-1715 Granted to G. Soria. The analyses of the samples were conducted in ALUAR S.A.I.C. in the framework of the cooperation Project No. 6213/15. The meteorological station was installed under permit DISPOSCION N 142 SsCyAP/17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by AC-A, GS and EB. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AC-A and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Crespi-Abril, A.C., Soria, G., Barbieri, E. et al. Dynamics and Characterization of Aeolian Dust Deposition from a Burned Shrubland at Chubut Coastal Patagonia in Argentina. Earth Syst Environ 6, 571–582 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-021-00272-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-021-00272-z