Assessment of chemical and mineralogical characteristics of airborne dust in the Sistan region, Iran

► Sistan in southeast of Iran, has extensive wind erosion with intense dust storms. ► Quartz, calcite, muscovite and plagioclase are main mineralogical components of dust. ► SiO2, CaO, Al2O3, Na2O, MgO and Fe2O3 are major elements of dust. ► Mineralogy and chemical compositions of airborne dust are similar to soil samples. ► Dust has rounded irregular, prismatic and rhombic shapes, with only finer particles.