Massive volcanic SO2 oxidation and sulphate aerosol deposition in Cenozoic North America

Huiming Bao (), Shaocai Yu () and Daniel Q. Tong
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Huiming Bao: Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-4101, USA
Shaocai Yu: National Exposure Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, USA
Daniel Q. Tong: Air Resources Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Springs, Maryland 20910, USA

Nature, 2010, vol. 465, issue 7300, 909-912

Abstract: Alkalinity etched in the rocks Sulphur dioxide emitted during volcanic eruptions is oxidized to sulphate and can go on to form sulphate aerosols that can influence Earth's radiation balance. Bao et al. have used sulphur and triple oxygen isotope measurements of atmospheric sulphate preserved in the rock record to investigate the specific oxidation pathways from which the sulphate was formed. They find that seven eruption-related sulphate aerosol deposition events occurred during the mid-Cenozoic (between 34 and 7 million years ago) in the northern High Plains of North America. The isotopically discrete sulphates found in the sediments would have been produced only in alkaline cloudwater that favours an ozone-dominated sulphur dioxide oxidation pathway in the troposphere. This suggests that, in contrast to the weakly acidic condition today, cloudwater in the region was frequently alkaline during the mid-Cenozoic era.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09100

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