Effects of Dry and Wet Negev Soil–Dust Deposition on the Induction of Autoxidation of Soil–Dust Lipid Components

Abstract

Lipids and their oxidation products were quantified in loess samples from the Negev Desert (Israel), well known to be a source of desert dusts in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. The results obtained showed the presence of higher plant material (angiosperms and gymnosperms), but also bacteria and fungi. Although a strong autoxidation of lipids could be demonstrated, the resulting oxidation products appeared to be weakly accumulated, likely due to the high temperatures and solar irradiance observed in the Negev Desert. Incubation of this dust analogue in fresh water (to mimic their behavior in rainwater) resulted in the release of metal ions (mainly iron), but also a fast heterolytic degradation of their weak content of hydroperoxides. Induction of autoxidation processes in dry and wet atmospheric dusts arising from the Negev Desert in seawater (needing simultaneous presence of metal ions and hydroperoxides) seems thus very unlikely due to the relatively high pH of seawater hindering metal dissolution and the degradation of hydroperoxides in rainwater.