Atmospheric black carbon deposit in Beijing and Zhangbei, China

Atmospheric black carbon deposition is important to the Globe Carbon Cycle. In this study, monthly atmospheric dust samples were collected in urban Beijing and rural Zhangbei. Results showed that black carbon concentrations of the dust samples varied between 4.52 mg.g(-1) and 18.8 mg.g(-1) in Beijing and from 1.60 mg.g(-1) to 5.17 mg.g(-1) in Zhangbei. Seasonal variations of black carbon concentrations of the two areas were consistent. Black carbon concentrations and corresponding dust amount were negatively correlated of the two areas. Annual atmospheric dust black carbon flux of Beijing and Zhangbei were 1659 mg.m(-2) and 1504 mg.m(-2), respectively. Atmospheric Black Carbon of Beijing came mainly from perennial human activities such as industrial and traffic, thus seasonal variation of black carbon flux of Beijing was not obvious; while black carbon flux in Zhangbei was mainly carried by airborne topsoils which controlled by monsoon, in winter and spring, dust storm weather occurred frequently, black carbon flux of this period was much higher than other season. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.