Environmental Mineralogy
Airborne Particulates: Mineralogy, Provenance, and Environmental Impacts
Co-Conveners
Bruno Augusto Alemao Monteiro, McGill University
Vincent Johan van Hinsberg, McGill University
Kim Berlo, McGill University
Eleanor Berryman, CanmetMINING, Natural Resources Canada
Airborne mineral particles, either derived from natural processes or human activities, strongly influence the environment. These particulates transport nutrients to oceans and terrestrial ecosystems, alter atmospheric chemistry and radiative properties, and, when metal-rich or ultrafine, pose risks to human and ecological health. The mineralogical, geochemical, and morphological diversity of these particulates—ranging from volcanic ash, desert dust, sea salt, road dust, and emissions from mining or industry-related activities—combined with their typical multi-source origins, makes characterization and provenance analysis challenging. However, this information is critical to determine the elemental load of these particulates and the bioavailability of their constituents, and hence assess their environmental impacts, to evaluate the provenance of their constituents and dispersal pathways, and develop mitigation strategies.
This session seeks to bring together researchers investigating airborne particulates across environmental mineralogy, industrial contexts, volcanology, atmospheric sciences and remote sensing. We aim to highlight advances in characterizing particle compositions, mineralogy, transformations during transport and weathering, and tracing their origins using mineralogical, geochemical, isotopic, morphological, modelling, and satellite-based approaches.
We welcome contributions employing laboratory, field, and remote techniques, including SEM-EDX and µXRF mapping for major elements deportment and mineral identification derived from elemental maps; trace element and isotopic fingerprinting by LIBS and (LA)-ICP-MS; automated mineralogy and particle-size/shape analysis; transport, dispersion and unmixing models; and satellite or airborne hyperspectral/multispectral methods for retrieving particle mineralogy, trajectories, and compositional evolution. We particularly encourage studies that integrate mineral maps with geochemical datasets, couple mineralogy to environmental reactivity or leachability, apply statistical or machine-learning frameworks to resolve mixed signals, or leverage emerging global datasets and remote sensing tools to track particulate provenance at regional to global scales.
Bringing together specialists working on diverse particulate settings, this session aims to identify methodological gaps, promote interdisciplinary solutions, and stimulate the development of standardized, data-driven approaches for understanding airborne particulates, their provenance, and the hazards and environmental impacts they pose.
