Small aerosol particles have for a long time been known to be harmful to humans, and are today regarded to cause a larger number of deaths than traffic accidents globally. Energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) is a well known method that has been used for identification of toxic as well as non-toxic elements in the particles. The combination of elements will together with other information help to identify the sources and predict the effects of particles on environment and human health. The present work was conducted in Kwabenya, a suburb of the capital Accra of Ghana, which is frequently exposed to Harmattan dust from the Sahara-Sahel region. In total 171 filters each of PM2.5 and PM(2.5-10) were collected during 1 year. Levels of elements, black carbon (BC) and mass, were determined for both particle sizes. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the datasets from Harmattan and non-Harmattan periods. The daily average of PM10 was very high, 179 mu g m(-3) and the BC contents were 4 mu g m(-3). The presence of crustal elements was large in PM(2.5-10) as well as in PM2.5, and had a more than tenfold increase in PM(2.5-10) during the Harmattan period. Major characteristic elements for different sources were identified from correlation coefficients and regression analysis of the data. Sahara sand aerosol was the major source in both study periods, but influence from biomass burning, sea-spray and metal industries was also observed. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.