CIMP 199: Water quality of peatland ponds and streams on a latitudinal transect ...

• Main Author: University of Alberta
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: DataStream 2022
• Subjects: Gwich’in; Inuvik; Northwest Territories; permafrost; Slave Lake
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25976/rzkg-7n02; https://datastream.org/dataset/4a11158d-fa63-419f-8c92-a2b164956b59

Our project examined water quality in peatland catchments in the Dehcho, Gwich’in Settlement Area, and Inuvaluit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories and the lands of the Dene Tha’, Woodland Cree, Big Stone Cree, and Métis people in Alberta. A latitudinal study of streams and ponds from Slave Lake, AB to Inuvik, NT in 2019 was undertaken to determine the influence of permafrost extent on methylmercury, mercury, dissolved organic matter, elements, and ions. ... : Water samples were collected at the edges of the streams (n = 47) and ponds (n = 25). PT1 and PT2 Ultrapens (Myron L Company, USA) were used to measured electrical conductivity, pH, and water temperature. Samples for mercury analysis (2x125 mL) and methylmercury analysis (2x250 mL) were collected in certified precleaned amber glass bottles following clean hands-dirty hands protocols, and one of each sample was filtered via cellulose nitrate filter towers into new bottles. 2x60 mL water samples were filtered in field, with one sample preserved with hydrochloric acid for dissolved organic carbon and cation analysis, with the other non-acidified for anion analysis and absorbance spectroscopy. ...