Mineral dust is amongst the largest contributors to the
global aerosol mass load and dominates climate effects over
large areas of the Earth. Dust undergoes heterogeneous chemical
reactions during transport that increase its hygroscopicity,
while altering its optical properties, and the associated radiative
forcing. The rates of heterogeneous chemical reactions on
the dust surface that form coatings of sulfate, nitrate, chloride,
or organics depend strongly on the dust mineralogical
composition. For example, the uptake of sulfur dioxide by
calcite exceeds by at least an order of magnitude uptake by
quartz, feldspar and hematite. Dust composition also affects
the partitioning of semi-volatile inorganic compounds, altering
their burden and radiative forcing.