Migration of salt dust particles and its contribution to urban atmospheric particulate matter in Xinjiang

In this study, the PM2.5 (Sep. 2017 to Aug. 2018) and snow samples (Dec. 2018) were collected in Urumqi as well as the soil samples in Karamay. By comparing the compositions of these samples, we attributed the origins of salt dust particles over urban Urumqi and investigated the potential impact of salt dust particles on urban air. The results showed that the mean concentration of total water-soluble ions (WSIs) in PM2.5 was 62.65±64.75μg/m3 with the range of 0.69 to 328.60μg/m3. The concentrations of typical salt dust ions were 22.73±26.45μg/m3, 2.11±3.11μg/m3, 1.85±1.43μg/m3, 0.40±0.40μg/m3, 0.28±0.20μg/m3 and 0.21±0.15 μg/m3 for SO42-, Ca2+, Na+, Cl-, K+ and Mg2+, respectively. The salt dust particles over urban Urumqi were mainly originated of the Lake Ebinur and Manas Salt Lake. Due to the influence of sandstorms, the concentrations of Cl-, SO42-, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, and Na+ in the sand snow samples were higher than those in the ordinary snow samples by factors of 30, 19, 20, 5, 7, and 5, respectively. © 2021, Editorial Board of China Environmental Science. All right reserved.