Abstract
Industrial emissions in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR), Alberta, Canada, have caused concerns about the effect of oil sands operations on the surrounding terrestrial environments, including jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) stands. We collected jack pine needles from 19 sites in the AOSR (13–128 km from main operations) for foliar chemical analyses to investigate the environmental impact on jack pine. Pine needles from three age classes, the current annual growth (CAG, 2011), one year and two year old pine needles, were collected. Samples were analyzed for total carbon (TC), nitrogen (TN), and sulfur (TS), inorganic S (SO4-S), base cations (Ca, Mg, Na), and other elements (B, Cu, Fe, Mn, P, Zn); CAG needles were also analyzed for their nitrogen and carbon isotopic compositions. Only TN, TS, Ca, B, Zn, and Fe contents showed weak but significant increases with proximity to the major oil sands operations. C and N isotopic compositions showed no trend with distance or TC and TN contents. Total S contents in CAG of pine foliage increased significantly with proximity to the main industrial operation while foliar inorganic S to organic S ratios (SO4-S/Sorg) ranged consistently between 0.13 and 0.32, indicating low to moderately high S loading. Hence, this study suggests some evidence of uptake of S emissions in close proximity to anthropogenic sources, although the reported values have not reached a level of environmental concern.
Highlights
The Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) in northeastern Alberta, Canada, is an enormous unconventional oil resource that constitutes the third largest oil reserve in the world. This oil resource has experienced an unprecedented expansion of mining projects and in-situ operations over the last decades that has resulted in an increase in industrial emissions [1]
Carbon contents in jack pine needles in the vicinity of the Athabasca oil sands operations Carbon contents in jack pine needles in the vicinity of the Athabasca oil sands operations ranged from 492 to 574 g·kg−−11, and are similar to C contents reported for conifers [38]
The lowest site site averaged current annual growth (CAG) C content was measured at JP310 (508−1g·kg−1 ), which is 41 km south-west of averaged CAG C content was measured at JP310 (508 g∙kg ), which is 41 km south‐west of the oil−1 the oil sands operations and Fort McMurray
Summary
The Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) in northeastern Alberta, Canada, is an enormous unconventional oil resource that constitutes the third largest oil reserve in the world. This oil resource has experienced an unprecedented expansion of mining projects (open pit mining) and in-situ operations (e.g., steam-assisted gravity drainage) over the last decades that has resulted in an increase in industrial emissions [1]. Jack pine forests growing on sandy soils with low base cation weathering rates were identified as most sensitive to acidic deposition in the AOSR [9,11].
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