Harland Goldstein
Current Research and Activities:
Climatic, geologic, biologic, and human controls on dust generation
Effects of dust emission and transport: ecologic, geomorphic, and human health
Soil-geomorphic controls on ecosystems including distributions of threatened and endangered plants
Environmental magnetism
Biography
Education
1997: B.S., Geology, Humboldt State University
2000: M.S., Geology, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Membership in Professional Societies
- Geological Society of America
- International Society for Aeolian Research
Professional Experience
2000-present: Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey
Science and Products
Sources, compositions, and effects of atmospheric dust from American Drylands
The Drylands Project undertakes studies to measure past and ongoing changes in dust sources, flux, and composition in the American West, and strives to understand the effects of atmospheric dust on pressing national and global issues of snowmelt acceleration, air quality, and human health. The project develops the capability to forecast future dust emission/deposition and effects on the basis...
Atmospheric processing of iron-bearing mineral dust aerosol and its effect on growth of a marine diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana
Iron (Fe) is a growth-limiting micronutrient for phytoplankton in major areas of oceans and deposited wind-blown desert dust is a primary Fe source to these regions. Simulated atmospheric processing of four mineral dust proxies and two natural dust samples followed by subsequent growth studies of the marine planktic diatom Cyclotella...
Hettiarachchi, Eshani; Ivanov, Sergei; Kieft, Thomas L.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Moskowitz, Bruce M.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Rubasinghege, Gayan 'Dust in the wind’ from source-to-sink: Analysis of the 14-15 April 2015 storm in Utah
On 14–15 April 2015, an intense intermountain cyclone in the western USA caused high winds and a dust storm that degraded air quality in the eastern Great Basin, and deposited dust-on-snow (DOS) in the Wasatch Range near Salt Lake City, Utah. We analyzed the storm and documented its “source-to-sink” development to relate the frontal passage with...
Nicoll, Kathleen; Hahnenberger, Maura; Goldstein, Harland L. Dust deposited on snow cover in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, 2011-2016: Compositional variability bearing on snow-melt effects
Light-absorbing particles in atmospheric dust deposited on snow cover (dust-on-snow, DOS) diminish albedo and accelerate the timing and rate of snow melt. Identification of these particles and their effects are relevant to snow-radiation modeling and thus water-resource management. Laboratory-measured reflectance of DOS samples from the San Juan...
Reynolds, Richard L.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Moskowitz, Bruce M.; Kokaly, Raymond; Munson, Seth M.; Solheid, Peat; Breit, George N.; Lawrence, Corey R.; Derry, Jeff Bioavailable iron production in airborne mineral dust: Controls by chemical composition and solar flux
A large part of oceanic biological production is limited by the scarcity of dissolved iron. Mineral dust aerosol, processed under acidic atmospheric conditions, is the primary natural source of bioavailable iron to oceanic life. However, synergistic and antagonistic effects of non-Fe-containing minerals on atmospheric...
Hettiarachchi, Eshani; Reynolds, Richard L.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Moskowitz, Bruce M.; Rubasinghege, Gayan Iron dissolution and speciation in atmospheric mineral dust: Metal-metal synergistic and antagonistic effects
Under acidic atmospheric conditions, iron leached from atmospheric mineral dust may influence the distribution of bioavailable iron at a global scale. However, the effects of non-Fe-containing minerals on iron dissolution remain unknown. This work describes metal-metal synergistic and antagonistic effects on iron dissolution that go beyond...
Hettiarachchi, Eshani; Reynolds, Richard L.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Moskowitz, Bruce M.; Rubasinghege, Gayan Phosphorus speciation and solubility in aeolian dust deposited in the interior American West
Aeolian dust is a significant source of phosphorus (P) to alpine oligotrophic lakes, but P speciation in dust and source sediments and its release kinetics to lake water remain unknown. Phosphorus K-edge XANES spectroscopy shows that calcium-bound P (Ca−P) is dominant in 10 of 12 dust samples (41−74%) deposited on snow in the central Rocky...
Zhang, Zhuojun; Goldstein, Harland L.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Hu, Yongfeng; Wang, Xiaoming; Zhu, Mengqiang Late Quaternary loess and soils on uplands in the Canyonlands and Mesa Verde areas, Utah and Colorado
Thin loess deposits on the uplands of the southeastern Colorado Plateau have previously not been well studied. We sampled deposits and soils from trenches on Hatch Point (HP) mesa near Canyonlands National Park, Utah, and from two outcrops in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. At HP, the oldest buried unit yielded 2 optically stimulated...
Reheis, Marith C.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Forman, Steven L.; Mahan, Shannon A.; Carrara, Paul E. Controls on the chemical composition of saline surface crusts and emitted dust from a wet playa in the Mojave Desert (USA)
Saline-surface crusts and their compositions at ephemeral, dry, and drying lakes are important products of arid-land processes. Detailed understanding is lacking, however, about interactions among locally variable hydrogeologic conditions, compositional control of groundwater on vadose zone and surface salts, and dust composition. Chemical and...
Goldstein, Harland L.; Breit, George N.; Reynolds, Richard L. Concentrations of mineral aerosol from desert to plains across the central Rocky Mountains, western United States
Mineral dusts can have profound effects on climate, clouds, ecosystem processes, and human health. Because regional dust emission and deposition in western North America are not well understood, measurements of total suspended particulate (TSP) from 2011 to 2013 were made along a 500-km transect of five remote sites in Utah and Colorado, USA. The...
Reynolds, Richard L.; Munson, Seth M.; Fernandez, Daniel; Goldstein, Harland L.; Neff, Jason C. Iron oxide minerals in dust-source sediments from the Bodélé Depression, Chad: Implications for radiative properties and Fe bioavailability of dust plumes from the Sahara
Atmospheric mineral dust can influence climate and biogeochemical cycles. An important component of mineral dust is ferric oxide minerals (hematite and goethite) which have been shown to influence strongly the optical properties of dust plumes and thus affect the radiative forcing of global dust. Here we report on the iron mineralogy of dust-...
Moskowitz, Bruce M.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Beroquo, Thelma; Kokaly, Raymond F.; Bristow, Charlie S Regional variability in dust-on-snow processes and impacts in the Upper Colorado River Basin
Dust deposition onto mountain snow cover in the Upper Colorado River Basin frequently occurs in the spring when wind speeds and dust emission peaks on the nearby Colorado Plateau. Dust loading has increased since the intensive settlement in the western USA in the mid 1880s. The effects of dust-on-snow have been well studied at Senator Beck Basin...
Skiles, S. McKenzie; Painter, Thomas H.; Belnap, Jayne; Holland, Lacey; Reynolds, Richard L.; Goldstein, Harland L.; Lin, J. Aeolian responses to climate variability during the past century on Mesquite Lake Playa, Mojave Desert
The erosion and deposition of sediments by wind from 1901 to 2013 have created large changes in surface features of Mesquite Lake playa in the Mojave Desert. The decadal scale recurrence of sand-sheet development, migration, and merging with older dunes appears related to decadal climatic changes of drought and wetness as recorded in the...
Whitney, John W.; Breit, George N.; Buckingham, S.E.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Bogle, Rian C.; Luo, Lifeng; Goldstein, Harland L.; Vogel, John M.