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Found 10 records similar to Historic mercury and heavy metal deposition across Canada reconstructed from lake sediment cores
The Flin Flon copper–zinc smelter is a site of concern as it has been the largest single source of atmospheric mercury emissions in Canada until operations ceased on July 1, 2010. The smelting and mining activities resulted in mercury contamination to the local environment. Elevated levels of mercury and other trace metals were found in soil humus, peat, plants, fish and sediment cores. The Flin Flon smelter of the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company is located near the Manitoba–Saskatchewan border, 600 km Northwest of Winnipeg and over 400 km away from other major industrial complexes.This study examined nine lakes (Nekik, Douglas, Loucks, Phantom, McClurg, Cleaver, Naosep, Hamel, and Meridian) each lake was located at varying differences within 75 km of the smelter stack these lakes were selected for sediment coring analysis and heavy metal deposition trends.
Kejimkujik National Park, in Nova Scotia, Canada, is a sensitive region for heavy metal contamination, such as mercury, in part due to long-range atmospheric deposition from global and regional industrial regions. The region is remote from industrial centres, but is downwind of major pollution sources in North America and Canada, and historically had numerous gold mining sites. The region has also experienced anthropogenic acidification from sulphate deposition over the 20th century, which has resulted in limnological conditions favourable for mercury (Hg) methylation within Kejimkujik lakes. Kejimkujik is therefore known to be a hotspot for methylmercury (MeHg) bioaccumulation and biomagnification, with the highest mercury concentrations detected within common loon (Gavia immer) populations across Canada and North America.
The Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), in Ontario, Canada, is a sensitive region for heavy metal contamination, such as mercury, in part due to long-range atmospheric deposition from global and regional industrial regions. The region is remote from industrial centres, but is downwind of major pollution sources in North America and Canada, and historically had numerous gold mining sites. Supplemental Information
The Climate Change and Air Pollution (CCAP) program was established in 2016 to identify the severity and extent of adverse impacts of current and future air emissions on aquatic ecosystems to support regulatory actions and policy development. The program includes a number of components, including identifying, monitoring and defining air quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) concerns; improving our understanding of the short- and long-term effects of atmospheric pollutants on the environment; developing a plan to combat climate change; and monitoring and reducing both domestic and transboundary emissions of GHGs.
Recent and historical deposition of mercury (Hg) are examined over a broad geographic area from southwestern Northwest Territories to Labrador and from the U.S. Northeast to northern Ellesmere Island using dated sediment cores from 50 lakes (18 in midlatitudes (41-50 degrees North), 14 subarctic (51-64 degrees North) and 18 in the Arctic (65-83 degrees North)). Objectives were to quantify latitudinal and longitudinal trends of anthropogenic mercury deposition in eastern and northern North America, to investigate variations in mercury deposition, to examine relationships with lake area, catchment/lake area ratio and sedimentation rates, and to compare results with model predictions. Distinct increases of mercury over time were observed in 76% of Arctic, 86% of subarctic and 100% of midlatitude cores. Subsurface maxima in mercury depositional fluxes were observed in only 28% of midlatitude lakes and 18% of arctic lakes, indicating little recent reduction of inputs.
Sediment from Lakes
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 47 elements including numerous metals, and visible reflectance spectroscopy or VRS-chla have been determined in sediment core samples collected in 2012, 2013 and 2014 from 16 small (surface area 4-97 ha; maximum depth ~1-5 m deep), hydrologically simple lakes located 30 to 120 km from major oil sands development areas. Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) guidelines are available for 13 of the 53 PAHs reported here. Sediment concentrations did not exceed Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) probable effects levels (PELs), which define the level above which biological adverse effects are expected to occur, for PAHs in any lake. Exceedances of the CCME interim sediment quality guidelines (ISQG) for the protection of aquatic life occurred for 4 PAHs (naphthalene, 2-methyl naphthalene phenanthrene, and benzo(a)pyrene) in 8 lakes.
Monitoring activities have collected bulk suspended sediment samples using continuous flow centrifuges and Phillips Tube samplers in the Lower Athabasca River and tributaries respectively. Further, in the absence of pre-development monitoring for this region, high fidelity dated lake sediment cores were used to assess the natural range in contaminant deposition to this region and to obtain a historical perspective of contaminant loadings. All sediments (suspended river and lake cores) have been analyzed in the laboratory for sediment quality variables as per Appendix B in the Integrated Monitoring Plan (cores were also analyzed for paleo indicators of ecosystem health such as diatoms). In addition, as the Lower Athabasca river bed sediments are known to shift and migrate downstream, bathymetric maps of the bed-channel morphology over time was also completed.
The Great Lakes Sediment Database (also known as the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) Sediment Archive) is an archive of data on the sediments of the Great Lakes, their connecting channels, and the St. Lawrence River which was collected by NWRI and in cooperation with other agencies between 1960 and 1975. It is housed in Environment and Climate Change Canada's Canada Centre for Inland Waters in Burlington, Ontario. The data has been subdivided into two groups according to location and purpose:
1.Great Lakes Basin Sediment Data: physical and geochemical data for sediment samples and cores collected lakewide in lakes Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, Huron (including Georgian Bay), Michigan and Superior between 1960 and 1975 by R.L. Thomas, A.L.W.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has been monitoring trace metals in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the oil sands region since December 2010. Active PM2.5 sampling is collected at the Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA) Air Monitoring Stations: Mannix (AMS5), Lower Camp (AMS11) and Fort McKay South (AMS13; until March 2015), using the established protocols and schedule of the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) Program. In 2015, sampling began for PM2.5 and PM10-2.5 (coarse fraction) at the Fort McKay (AMS1), Wapasu (AMS17) and Stony Mountain (AMS18) sites. The data from the measurements conducted so far show that concentrations of metals decrease with distance from the main surface mining and upgrading activities, and that the crustal elements iron, silicon, aluminum, and calcium are present in greater abundance than other metals detected.
Fire plays an important role in maintaining health of forests and grasslands, and maintains biodiversity by creating a mosaic of varying age structure. The fescue grasslands of the Foothills Parkland Ecoregion were historically maintained by fire, both from natural causes and by First Nations. More than a century of fire suppression has contributed to loss of open grasslands due to shrub and aspen encroachment. The Area Burned Condition Class (ABCC) measure is designed to be evaluated and reported as a management effectiveness monitoring measure within the Waterton Lakes Conservation and Restoration (CORE) project (Rescue the Fescue).
Description of the submarine morphology and characteristics of the sediments (lithology, grain size, mineralogy, and chemistry) of the Saguenay fjord, the lower Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. The layer contains a synthesis of geological and geochemical data collected and interpreted over 10 years and is accompanied by detailed bathymetric and surface sediment maps. Most of this study deals with the geomorphology, surface sediments (lithology, mineralogy, and chemistry), and present depositional conditions, but several studies have also been made of the bedrock geology and the stratigraphy of the unconsolidated sediments. Purpose
These studies are regional and of a reconnaissance nature in the sense that they have been designed to obtain acoustical and sampling data on the morphology and basic properties of the sediments from the whole Gulf.