Date of Award

Spring 2024

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department/Major

Sustainability

First Advisor

Mark Sweeney

Second Advisor

Brennan Jordan

Third Advisor

Jennifer Fierro

Keywords

Dust, Anthropogenic emissions, PI-SWERL, Utah, Off-road Vehicles

Subject Categories

Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Geomorphology | Sustainability

Abstract

Upward trends in the use of off-highway vehicles (OHV) and the creation of new OHV trails facilitate an increase in soil disturbance and dust emissions in Utah. Anthropogenic destruction of soil crusts and the removal of vegetation by OHVs exposes soil and destroys soil structure, making the soil easier to erode by the wind. We used the PI-SWERL (Portable In Situ Wind Erosion Laboratory) to measure dust concentrations of disturbed and undisturbed soil. We tested soils at several popular OHV areas with landforms composed of sand dunes, playas, and Lake Bonneville sediments. Soil crust strength, grain size, and salinity were also measured. Dust emissions from undisturbed surfaces are low (~0.001 mg/m2/s) in soils with high crust strength, vegetation, or high moisture content than those disturbed by OHVs. Disturbed OHV trails produced 1 to 5 orders of magnitude higher concentrations of dust (as high as 200 mg/m2/s). Vegetation along with crusted surfaces protect soils from wind erosion. The generation of dust in Utah is multifaceted, likely owing a significant part of its production to the destruction of natural and crusted surfaces by anthropogenic activity.

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