Contributions of Great Salt Lake playa- and industrially-sourced priority pollutant metals in dust contribute to possible health hazards in the communities of northern Utah
Communities and ecosystems of northern Utah, USA receive particulate pollution from anthropogenic activity and dust emissions from sources including the Great Salt Lake (“the Lake”) playa. In addition to affecting communities, anthropogenic pollution is delivered to the Lake's playa sediments, which are eroded during dust events. Yet, spatial variability in dust flux and composition and their risks to human health are poorly understood. We analyzed dust in 17 passive samplers proximal to the Lake during fall 2022 for dust flux, the dust fraction of particulate matter, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, and elemental geochemistry. We evaluated spatial patterns of 11 priority pollutant metals and estimated the hypothetical non-cancer dust and soil ingestion health hazard for six age cohorts. We observed the highest dust fluxes proximal to the Lake's playa. The highest concentrations of and greatest number of metals occurred in and south of Ogden, UT. Sites to the northeast of Farmington Bay had the highest fluxes. Metal concentrations and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr suggest that the dust composition near Bountiful represents contributions from anthropogenic sources, whereas the dust composition to the northeast of Farmington Bay reflects the Lake's playa emissions. Evaluations of potential health hazards from dust ingestion suggest that children between birth and 6 years are vulnerable at higher ingestion rates. Thallium, As, Pb, Co and Cr contributed most to the estimated hazard. Among these, As and sometimes Pb are likely derived from the Lake's playa emissions. Thus, suppression of dust emissions from the Lake's playa may decrease possible health risks for children in northern Utah.