Isotopic evidence for the origin of sulphate in coastal rain

M. A. Wadleigh; H. P. Schwarcz; J. R. Kramer

doi:10.3402/tellusb.v48i1.15665

Isotopic evidence for the origin of sulphate in coastal rain

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

Volume 48 (1996): Issue 1

By: M. A. Wadleigh, H. P. Schwarcz and J. R. Kramer

Open Access

|Jan 1996

Abstract

Stable sulphur and oxygen isotopic analyses were combined with chemistry, air mass back trajectories and factor analysis on 39 rainfall events collected at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada in an attempt to identify the sources of sulphate in precipitation falling in this coastal area. Sulphate in the Shelburne rain samples can be described by two-endmember mixing between continental and oceanic sources. The continental endmember is characterized by δ³⁴S≈4‰ and δ18O≈11‰ and is interpreted as representing the average value for continentally-derived, long range transported sulphate. The marine endmember has δ34S≈21‰ and δ18O ≈ 9.5‰ corresponding to the composition of oceanic dissolved sulphate which entered the rain as sea spray. Significant components of putative marine, DMS-derived sulphate were not observed in any of the rain samples.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v48i1.15665 | Journal eISSN: 1600-0889

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Language: English

Page range: 44 - 59

Submitted on: Jul 15, 1994

Accepted on: Mar 1, 1995

Published on: Jan 1, 1996

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 1996 M. A. Wadleigh, H. P. Schwarcz, J. R. Kramer, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 48 (1996): Issue 1