Identifying Sources of Aeolian Mineral Dust: Present and Past - Mineral Dust: A Key Player in the Earth System - page 69

is found in the vast loess deposits of North America, South America, and Eurasia,
as well as in many deep-sea cores. In addition, growth of continental ice sheets
lowered sea level and exposed many continental and insular shelves that today are
submerged. The importance of this potential glacial-age dust source has yet to be
realized with field studies, but would be a fruitful area of research in the future.
Other land surface changes promoting dust also occurred during the last glacial
period including desiccation of lakes and reduction in overall vegetation cover.
Assessing future dust sources is not easy and such efforts require modeling.
Modeling suggests that climate change will likely bring about shifts in dust sources
through changes in degree or kind of vegetation cover, variations in wind strength,
and changes in the size of water bodies. Human land use is a major uncertainty
in assessing dust sources of the future, as changes in land use could affect land
surface erodibility significantly, particularly due to increased agricultural endeavors
and water usage.
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