Monte Carlo simulation results of zircon depletion effects on Hf isotopic compositions of dust

Combined Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic data of two reference materials (AGV-1/BCR2) and 50, 10 and 5 mg aliquots of carbonate-free fine grain (<10 µm) separates of three loess samples (Central Europe/NUS, China/BEI, USA/JUD) are presented. Good agreement between measured and reference Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions (ICs) demonstrate that robust isotopic ratios can be obtained from 5-10 mg size rock samples using the ion exchange/mass spectrometry techniques applied. While 87Sr/86Sr ratios of dust aluminosilicate fractions are affected by even small changes in pretreatments, Nd isotopic ratios are found to be insensitive to acid leaching, grain-size or weathering effects. However, the Nd isotopic tracer is sometimes inconclusive in dust source fingerprinting (BEI and NUS both close to epsilon-Nd(0) -10). Hafnium isotopic values (<10 µm fractions) are homogenous for NUS, while highly variable for BEI. This heterogeneity and vertical arrays of Hf isotopic data suggest zircon depletion effects towards the clay fractions (<2 µm). Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the Hf IC of the dust <10 µm fraction is influenced by both the abundance of zircons present and maturity of crustal rocks supplying this heavy mineral, while the <2 µm fraction is almost unaffected. Thus, epsilon-Hf(0) variations in the clay fraction are largely controlled by the Hf IC of clays/heavy minerals having high Lu/Hf and radiogenic 176Hf/177Hf IC. Future work should be focused on Hf IC of both the <10 and <2 µm fractions of dust from potential source areas to gain more insight into the origin of last glacial dust in Greenland ice cores.