Ice-core records of an Alpine glacier from the southern Swiss Alps were used to reconstruct sources of inorganic F and Cl- in precipitation. Our results suggest that sea salt transported together with mineral dust mainly from the Saharan area is the predominant source of Cl- in the southern Alps. However, on the average 16% of the Cl- and most of the F- deposition in the period 1937--94 could be related to HCl and HF emissions from anthropogenic sources. The record of non-sea-salt Cl- was found to represent the historical development of HCl emissions mainly from waste incineration in the Swiss Plateau, whereas the F- deposition record reflects HF emissions from the aluminum industry in the Swiss Rhone valley. Thus, our data indicate a strong impact of emissions of short lived atmospheric species such as HCl and HF on local and regional precipitation chemistry. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union