Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada?
The rate of bitumen extraction in northeastern Alberta, Canada, is outpacing the state of ecological understanding of the region, so that the extent of potential disturbances caused by atmospheric deposition remains largely unknown. Atmospheric SO 2 emissions from the Fort McMurray region of Alberta...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f08-074 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/F08-074 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/F08-074 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/f08-074 2023-12-17T10:30:17+01:00 Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada? Hazewinkel, Roderick R.O. Wolfe, Alexander P. Pla, Sergi Curtis, Chris Hadley, Kris 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f08-074 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/F08-074 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/F08-074 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences volume 65, issue 8, page 1554-1567 ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2008 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/f08-074 2023-11-19T13:38:42Z The rate of bitumen extraction in northeastern Alberta, Canada, is outpacing the state of ecological understanding of the region, so that the extent of potential disturbances caused by atmospheric deposition remains largely unknown. Atmospheric SO 2 emissions from the Fort McMurray region of Alberta (∼300 t·day –1 ) constitute ∼5% of the Canadian total. Combined with an estimated NO x production of ∼300 t·day –1 , these emissions have the potential to acidify surface waters. Diatom assemblages in dated sediment cores from eight acid-sensitive lakes were analyzed to assess the effects of acidifying emissions on boreal lake ecosystems. There is no evidence that these lakes have become acidified. Instead, many of the lakes show characteristic changes towards greater productivity and occasionally greater alkalinity. The absence of evidence for acidification does not imply that emissions from the Oil Sands are environmentally benign, but rather suggests that the biogeochemistry of these lakes differs fundamentally from well-studied acidified counterparts in northern Europe and eastern North America. Complex interactions involving in-lake alkalinity production, internal nutrient loading, and climate change appear to be driving these lakes towards the new ecological states reported. Article in Journal/Newspaper Fort McMurray Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Fort McMurray Canada Boreal Lake ENVELOPE(-127.670,-127.670,58.802,58.802) Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 65 8 1554 1567 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Hazewinkel, Roderick R.O. Wolfe, Alexander P. Pla, Sergi Curtis, Chris Hadley, Kris Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada? |
topic_facet |
Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
The rate of bitumen extraction in northeastern Alberta, Canada, is outpacing the state of ecological understanding of the region, so that the extent of potential disturbances caused by atmospheric deposition remains largely unknown. Atmospheric SO 2 emissions from the Fort McMurray region of Alberta (∼300 t·day –1 ) constitute ∼5% of the Canadian total. Combined with an estimated NO x production of ∼300 t·day –1 , these emissions have the potential to acidify surface waters. Diatom assemblages in dated sediment cores from eight acid-sensitive lakes were analyzed to assess the effects of acidifying emissions on boreal lake ecosystems. There is no evidence that these lakes have become acidified. Instead, many of the lakes show characteristic changes towards greater productivity and occasionally greater alkalinity. The absence of evidence for acidification does not imply that emissions from the Oil Sands are environmentally benign, but rather suggests that the biogeochemistry of these lakes differs fundamentally from well-studied acidified counterparts in northern Europe and eastern North America. Complex interactions involving in-lake alkalinity production, internal nutrient loading, and climate change appear to be driving these lakes towards the new ecological states reported. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hazewinkel, Roderick R.O. Wolfe, Alexander P. Pla, Sergi Curtis, Chris Hadley, Kris |
author_facet |
Hazewinkel, Roderick R.O. Wolfe, Alexander P. Pla, Sergi Curtis, Chris Hadley, Kris |
author_sort |
Hazewinkel, Roderick R.O. |
title |
Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada? |
title_short |
Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada? |
title_full |
Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada? |
title_fullStr |
Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Have atmospheric emissions from the Athabasca Oil Sands impacted lakes in northeastern Alberta, Canada? |
title_sort |
have atmospheric emissions from the athabasca oil sands impacted lakes in northeastern alberta, canada? |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f08-074 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/F08-074 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/F08-074 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-127.670,-127.670,58.802,58.802) |
geographic |
Fort McMurray Canada Boreal Lake |
geographic_facet |
Fort McMurray Canada Boreal Lake |
genre |
Fort McMurray |
genre_facet |
Fort McMurray |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences volume 65, issue 8, page 1554-1567 ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/f08-074 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
container_volume |
65 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1554 |
op_container_end_page |
1567 |
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1785583226109034496 |