Water-insoluble filtered residue materials of atmospheric wet and dry deposition are composed of mineral dusts and organic materials such as pollens. The number of pollens in the filter residue of deposition samples at Tottori was counted for 2 sizes at about 45 and 30 µm using a confocal laser microscope. Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis was used to measure Fe content of the filter residue. Relationship between Fe content analyzed by XRF and insoluble residue weight corrected for pollen weight assuming pollen density of 0.9 g/cm3 showed a linear relationship, suggesting that insoluble residue corrected for pollen weight contains Fe of 3.7 % by weight on the average. The average Fe content is consistent with the values reported for Asian dust (Kosa) events in Korea and China. Because Fe content of insoluble residue in filter samples is easily measured by XRF method, mineral dust amounts in the filter residue samples can be estimated from Fe content of the sample and the average fraction of Fe for Asian dust.
