Can changing dust composition affect ecosystem processes, including perhaps the invasion of exotic species?
3. The eolian dust in the surficial deposits and soils renders them especially vulnerable to wind erosion. Land-management policies can benefit from these results. 4. Magnetic petrology is a rapid, quantitative method to detect eolian dust in arid-land surficial deposits. We are using the method to identify eolian components over different surfaces of the Mojave ecosystem. Even in this geologically and magnetically complex setting, we find strong magnetic mineral contrasts between silt in soil and the underlying bedrock, indicating an eolian origin for the silt.
