Environmental Futures, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Life Sciences, The University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Earth and Planetary Sciences, School of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
Sci Adv. 2024 Oct 25;10(43):eadn3311. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn3311.
Mineral aerosols form a key component of Earth's dynamic biogeochemical systems, yet their composition and mass are variable in time. We reconstruct patterns in mineral aerosol flux from East Asia, the second largest global dust source, in a peat mire in northern Japan. Using geochemical fingerprinting, we show for the past ~3600 years that high but variable tephra flux dominated regional aerosol loads. A human signal was discernible as elevated pollutant metals, along with East Asian mainland dust, identifiable by its geochemical signature. After ~700 years before the present, dust flux increased as the westerly jet intensified and moved south, the summer monsoon strength reduced, and agriculture expanded. From the 20th century, dust flux increased by two times. Attributable largely to human activity, this demarks a major change in aerosol export to the northwestern Pacific with accompanying increases in fluxes for key micronutrients and increased pollution flux by 16 times.
矿物气溶胶是地球动态生物地球化学系统的一个关键组成部分，但它们的组成和质量随时间而变化。我们在日本北部的一个泥炭沼泽中重建了东亚这一全球第二大粉尘源区矿物气溶胶通量的变化模式。利用地球化学示踪技术，我们发现过去约 3600 年来，高但变化的火山灰通量主导了区域气溶胶负荷。人类活动的污染物金属以及可通过地球化学特征识别的东亚大陆尘埃的存在，表明存在升高的污染物金属。在现今之前约 700 年，随着西风急流向南加强，夏季季风减弱，农业扩张，尘埃通量增加。从 20 世纪开始，尘埃通量增加了两倍。这主要归因于人类活动，标志着气溶胶向西北太平洋的输出发生了重大变化，伴随而来的是关键微量元素通量的增加和污染通量增加了 16 倍。
