Stable isotope ratio measurements of Cu and Zn in mineral dust (bulk and size fractions) from the Taklimakan Desert and the Sahel and in aerosols from the eastern tropical North Atlantic Ocean.

Accurate characterization of the stable isotope composition of Cu and Zn in major global mineral dust sources and in aerosols is central to the application of these isotope systems to the studies of global geochemical processes and cycles. We test here for the first time Cu and Zn isotope ratios within a well-defined source-receptor setting on the continent–ocean interface and determine the isotope composition of (i) bulk surface soil dust samples from the Sahel region, (ii) individual size fractions of surface dust samples from the Taklimakan Desert, and (iii) aerosols collected in the equatorial eastern North Atlantic region. This is achieved reducing the blank contribution during the ion exchange step using small resin and acid volumes and using a second ion exchange passage to purify the Cu fraction. We find no significant correlation between size fractions and isotope ratios in the two samples analyzed from the Taklimakan Desert. Mass balance calculations suggest that isotope ratios of bulk samples are within the analytical precision of the <4μm size fraction and can be used to characterize atmospheric long range transport of Cu and Zn in mineral dust from the Taklimakan Desert. The <1µm size fractions of two aerosol samples collected over the equatorial eastern North Atlantic region have Cu and Zn isotope ratios that are different to Sahel surface soil dust suggesting important non-crustal sources, in line with calculated enrichment factors, and possibly of anthropogenic origin. Using previously reported δ66Zn values for anthropogenic emission from Europe, preliminary calculations suggest that up to 55% of Zn arriving at the sampling points in the equatorial eastern North Atlantic region could be of anthropogenic origin.