Characteristics of TSP Loads during the Middle East Springtime Dust Storm (MESDS) in Western Iran

Abstract

Dust storm is one of the most important environmental problems in the west of Iran. To indicate the environmental impact of these phenomena, the characterization of dust storm loads is vital. The objective of this study is to identify the mineralogical and chemical composition, trace elements, and microorganisms of dust particles deposited during a springtime dust storm event over the west of Iran to obtain total suspended particulate. Dust samples were collected from four cities in the west of Iran during dust storms in two spring seasons of 2011 and 2012. In addition to determining the sources of dust samples on the dates of sampling, synthetic approaches including remote sensing technique of dust detection, physical–meteorological model called HYSPLIT, and analysis of weather map were used. XRD analyses of airborne dust samples indicate that the mineralogy of airborne dusts is dominated by calcite and quartz; additionally, gypsum, albeit, muscovite, clinochlore, and dolomite are other minerals in springtime dust storm. XRF analyses indicate that the most important chemical components of airborne dusts are SiO2, CaO, Al2O3, Fe2O3, and MgO. The Atomic Absorption analysis was performed to determine the concentration of heavy metals including Fe, Cr, Pb, Zn, Cd, Co, Cu, and Ni. Concentration of heavy metals was Fe > Zn > Cr > Ni > Pb > Cu > Co > Cd, respectively, and average concentration of heavy metals on Middle East springtime dust storm (MESDS) occurrences were higher than values proposed by the World Health Organization. Microorganism analysis shows that the Bacillus species (41.25 %) is dominant, then Micrococcus (10.3 %), Staphylococcus sp. (7.61 %), Klebsiella (4 %), Escherichia coli (2.7 %), and Enterobacter sp. (1.8 %); Aspergillus sp. (21.07 %), Candida albicans (5.7 %), Rhizopus (2.24 %), Penicillium sp. (1.04 %), and Mucor (0.89 %) genera were fungal species that were isolated in the (MESDS). Basic sources for scattering of dust in the west and southwest of Iran are Iraqi desert, desert lands in the north and northeast of Arabian Peninsula, east and southeast of Syria, also occasionally Sahara desert and Khuzestan province in southwestern of Iran.