Instrumental neutron activation analysis of elemental compositions in particles collected during Asian Dust period

Summary Instrumental neutron activation analysis was conducted on PM 10 samples collected in Daejeon city, Korea during September 2001 to May 2002. Our measurement data were analyzed to explain the behavior of particle-bound elemental components in relationship with Asian Dust (AD) events. The results of our analysis indicated that the major crustal elements (e.g., Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, and Ti) showed strong enrichment (about 3 to 9 times higher concentration levels) during the AD period accompanied by the increase in the PM 10 levels (e.g., by about 3 times). However, the concentrations of anthropogenically derived elements (such as As, Br, Sb, Se and Zn) exhibited moderate change during the AD period. Hence, the computation of enrichment factor (EF) indicated that the magnitude of EF values during the AD period was even smaller in the case of toxic metals than its non-AD counterpart. The existence of relatively low EF values during the AD period can be attributed to the excessive input of crustal components. The overall results of our study suggest that both absolute and relative elemental composition of aerosol particles can be altered significantly by the AD events.