Physical characterization, magnetic measurements, REE geochemistry and biomonitoring of dust load accumulated during a protracted winter fog period and their implications.

The winter fog in India is a recurrent phenomenon for more than a decade now affecting the entire Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions covering an area of nearly 500,000 km(2). Every winter (December-January), the air and surface transports in cities of northern India (Amritsar, New Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Allahabad) are severely disrupted with visibility reduced to <50 m at times. Since dust particles are known to act as nuclei for the fog formation, this study is aimed to carry out physicochemical characterization of the dust particulates accumulated during a protracted fog period from one of the severely fog affected cities of north India (Allahabad; 25°27'33.