干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

In saline lands around the desert areas in Xinjiang, NW China, saline soils contain significant amount of sulfate salt minerals. We investigate the sulfur isotope ratios of the salt materials to study the salt accumulation in the environment. In Xinjiang, sulfate salts are accumulated on the ground surface owing to the very arid condition, thus a large amount of sulfur-bearing aeolian dust are transferred from the ground into the atmosphere due to the frequent dust storm events. We suggest that the sulfur isotope ratios of the air-borne dust particles can be used as an indicator to trace the origin of aeolian dust of inland Asia.