The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands
Approximately 7000 to 8000 years ago when Hudson Bay became ice-free the Tyrrell Sea flooded the Hudson basin and deposited fine grained marine sediments overlaying the previous glacial tills. Coincident with the ablation of the ice sheet isostatic rebound occurred causing regression of the Tyrell S...
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ftunivwaterloo:oai:uwspace.uwaterloo.ca:10012/7352 2023-05-15T16:35:25+02:00 The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands Whittington, Peter 2013 http://hdl.handle.net/10012/7352 en eng University of Waterloo http://hdl.handle.net/10012/7352 Peatlands aquifer dewatering Hudson James Bay Lowlands Hydrology Geography Doctoral Thesis 2013 ftunivwaterloo 2022-06-18T22:59:39Z Approximately 7000 to 8000 years ago when Hudson Bay became ice-free the Tyrrell Sea flooded the Hudson basin and deposited fine grained marine sediments overlaying the previous glacial tills. Coincident with the ablation of the ice sheet isostatic rebound occurred causing regression of the Tyrell Sea and the emergence of a flat, relatively impermeable surface that would eventually host one of the world’s largest wetlands: the Hudson Bay Lowlands. The low permeability marine sediments and low regional slope reduced recharge and runoff, respectively, so that basal tidal marshes were established, and with isostatic up lift were eventually replaced by swamp forests and then forested and non-forested bogs. Recent discovery of kimberlite (diamondiferous) pipes in an area of the lowlands has led the development of an open-pit diamond mine which requires dewatering of the regional aquifer. Dewatering is depressurizing the surrounding Silurian bedrock that underlies the marine sediments. It was hypothesized that these marine sediments would act as a confining layer, isolating the overlying peatlands from the regional bedrock aquifer. We tested this hypothesis by instrumenting a 1.5 km long transect located within the zone of the mine’s influence that crossed various bogs and fens overlying these marine sediments, and was anchored at both ends by bedrock outcrops (bioherms), which represented areas of no marine sediment. Along this transect wells and piezometers were installed within the peat profile and upper marine sediments and bedrock to determine changes in water table and hydraulic head. The exposed bedrock outcrops (bioherms) did act as local drainage nodes, however, this effect was limited to ~30 m, beyond which water tables and hydraulic heads were similar to a control site located 25 km away. However, within this 30 m zone daily losses of water by the enhanced recharge often exceeded those of evapotranspiration (~3mm/day) representing a major local loss of water to the system. It is the distance to bedrock, ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Hudson Bay Ice Sheet James Bay University of Waterloo, Canada: Institutional Repository Hudson Hudson Bay Tyrrell ENVELOPE(-69.512,-69.512,-69.634,-69.634) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Waterloo, Canada: Institutional Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwaterloo |
language |
English |
topic |
Peatlands aquifer dewatering Hudson James Bay Lowlands Hydrology Geography |
spellingShingle |
Peatlands aquifer dewatering Hudson James Bay Lowlands Hydrology Geography Whittington, Peter The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands |
topic_facet |
Peatlands aquifer dewatering Hudson James Bay Lowlands Hydrology Geography |
description |
Approximately 7000 to 8000 years ago when Hudson Bay became ice-free the Tyrrell Sea flooded the Hudson basin and deposited fine grained marine sediments overlaying the previous glacial tills. Coincident with the ablation of the ice sheet isostatic rebound occurred causing regression of the Tyrell Sea and the emergence of a flat, relatively impermeable surface that would eventually host one of the world’s largest wetlands: the Hudson Bay Lowlands. The low permeability marine sediments and low regional slope reduced recharge and runoff, respectively, so that basal tidal marshes were established, and with isostatic up lift were eventually replaced by swamp forests and then forested and non-forested bogs. Recent discovery of kimberlite (diamondiferous) pipes in an area of the lowlands has led the development of an open-pit diamond mine which requires dewatering of the regional aquifer. Dewatering is depressurizing the surrounding Silurian bedrock that underlies the marine sediments. It was hypothesized that these marine sediments would act as a confining layer, isolating the overlying peatlands from the regional bedrock aquifer. We tested this hypothesis by instrumenting a 1.5 km long transect located within the zone of the mine’s influence that crossed various bogs and fens overlying these marine sediments, and was anchored at both ends by bedrock outcrops (bioherms), which represented areas of no marine sediment. Along this transect wells and piezometers were installed within the peat profile and upper marine sediments and bedrock to determine changes in water table and hydraulic head. The exposed bedrock outcrops (bioherms) did act as local drainage nodes, however, this effect was limited to ~30 m, beyond which water tables and hydraulic heads were similar to a control site located 25 km away. However, within this 30 m zone daily losses of water by the enhanced recharge often exceeded those of evapotranspiration (~3mm/day) representing a major local loss of water to the system. It is the distance to bedrock, ... |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Whittington, Peter |
author_facet |
Whittington, Peter |
author_sort |
Whittington, Peter |
title |
The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands |
title_short |
The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands |
title_full |
The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands |
title_fullStr |
The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Impacts of Diamond Mining to Peatlands in the James Bay Lowlands |
title_sort |
impacts of diamond mining to peatlands in the james bay lowlands |
publisher |
University of Waterloo |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10012/7352 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-69.512,-69.512,-69.634,-69.634) |
geographic |
Hudson Hudson Bay Tyrrell |
geographic_facet |
Hudson Hudson Bay Tyrrell |
genre |
Hudson Bay Ice Sheet James Bay |
genre_facet |
Hudson Bay Ice Sheet James Bay |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10012/7352 |
_version_ |
1766025633532477440 |