Using strontium isotopes to trace dust from a drying Great Salt Lake to adjacent urban areas and mountain snowpack

Abstract

With the desiccation of saline lakes around the globe, it is increasingly important to quantify the impacts of playa dust on downwind urban areas and mountain snowpack. In this study, we used 87Sr/86Sr ratios of carbonate minerals to trace dust from playas to urban areas and mountain snowpack. We focused on dust contributions from Great Salt Lake (GSL), in northern Utah, USA, which recently reached historic lows in water levels exposing large areas of dry lakebed. We measured 87Sr/86Sr ratios in dust from GSL, Sevier Dry Lake (SDL), and other playas across western Utah and compared them to 87Sr/86Sr ratios in dust across the urban Wasatch Front and mountain snowpack collected seasonally from 2015–2018. Dust from GSL had unique 87Sr/86Sr ratios (∼0.715) relative to SDL (∼0.710) and other playas (∼0.711 to 0.712), providing a potentially powerful tool for tracing GSL dust to downwind areas. Dust deposition had 87Sr/86Sr ratios ranging from ∼0.710 to ∼0.712 in the urban area and snowpack, within the range of playa dust sources. Using a simple two-endmember mixing model considering only GSL and SDL as sources, GSL contributed 5% of the dust flux to the southern Wasatch Front (Provo) and between 30%–34% of the dust flux to the northern Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Logan). For mountain snowpack, GSL contributed 11% of the dust flux to the Uinta Mountains and 22% of the dust flux to the Wasatch Mountains. Dust transport modeling could be combined with 87Sr/86Sr fingerprints for source apportionment in northern Utah and other areas that are impacted by regional playa dust.