Variations in mineralogy of dust in an ice core obtained from northwestern Greenland over the past 100 years

Our study is the first to demonstrate a high-temporal-resolution record of mineral composition in a Greenland ice core over the past 100 years. To reconstruct the past variations in the sources and transportation processes of mineral dust in northwestern Greenland, we analyzed the morphology and mineralogical composition of dust in an ice core from 1915 to 2013 using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). Analysis of the SEM-EDS reveals that the ice core dust mainly consisted of silicate minerals and the composition varied substantially on multi-decadal and inter-decadal scales, suggesting that the geological origin of the ice core minerals changed periodically during the past 100 years. The multi-decadal variation trend differed among mineral types: kaolinite generally formed in low- or middle-latitude areas were abundant in the colder periods (1950 to 2000), whereas mica, chlorite, feldspars, mafic minerals, and quartzes formed in arid, high-latitude, and local areas were abundant in the warmer periods (1915 to 1949 and 2005 to 2013). This indicates that the multi-decadal variation of the relative abundance of the minerals can be attributed to the local temperature changes in Greenland. The trajectory analysis shows that the minerals were mainly transported from the western coast of Greenland in the two warming periods, which was likely due to an increase of dust sourced from local ice-free areas. On the other hand, the abundant kaolinite was likely derived from old sediments at higher latitudes in North America, rather than from low and middle latitudes.