Seasonal variability in the origin of recent atmospheric mineral dust at NorthGRIP, Greenland

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 196, No. 3-4, p. 123-134, 2002 

A.J.-M. Bory, P.E. Biscaye
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.
A. Svensson
Departement of Geophysics, The Niels Bohr Institute of Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics, University of Copenhagen.
F.E. Grousset 
Département de Géologie et Océanograghie, Université Bordeaux 1, 33405 Talence Cedex, France.

ABSTRACT.
Isotopic (Sr and Nd) and mineralogical analyses of dust extracted from snow deposits from the last decade at the NorthGRIP, Greenland, ice camp (75.1^oN, 042.3^oW) confirm the eastern Asian source for Greenland dust and extend it to the present day. The 1998 and 1999 samples, which represent a ~2.4 month resolution of dust deposition, show that there are at least two Asian sources for the Greenland dust that vary seasonally. The provenance of dust during the major, spring/summer deposition is the Takla Makan desert of northwest China.