Single Particle Characterization of Inorganic Suspension in Lake Baikal, Siberia

Abstract

Automated and manual electron probe X-ray microanalyses were used to characterize the chemical composition and morphology of individual suspended particles, collected at different tributaries of Lake Baikal and in the central part of southern Lake Baikal. The data sets were reduced using hierarchical clustering, and the results were compared by means of selection rules. All the samples are dominated by natural aluminosilicates and Si-rich particles. But small amounts of anthropogenic aluminosilicates (i.e., fly ash); Fe-rich, Al-rich, Cr-rich, and Zn-rich particles; and Cl-coated fibers were also detected. The contamination is especially severe in the southern basin, which can easily be reached by atmospheric pollution from the industrial centers near Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude and which is also influenced by the large Baikalsk cellulose factory. At the northern basin, pol lution is only detected at the inflow of the Tiya River, where the dumping of debris from the construction of the Baikal−Amour railroad results in high concentrations of Fe-rich particles.