Environmental Impacts of the Athabasca Oil Sands Abigail Mullen

Soil and tree ring chemistry The impact of acid deposition in forest ecosystems in the Athabascan oil sands regions Ca/AL ratios of soil were investigated in the Jack Pine and trembling aspen. NE7, located northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, and SM8, located south of Fort McMurray.

Results

Results Continued The results of average pH of the precipitation was 5.2 in two watersheds NE7 and 4.7 in SM8. The changes in pH of the precipitation as it went through the tree canopy varied between the two species. The pH decreased in soil near the Jack pine but increased in the soil around Aspens. The Ca/Al ratios of both tree species were lower in SM8 than in NE7. There was SO4 for in the soil near each tree species which indicates high levels in the atmosphere which reflects the impact of acid deposition.

Effects of Oil Sands Process-Affected Water Process-affected water has metalloids, organic compounds, and ions in greater concentrations than the reference water. There were significant differences between the control and experimental group were identified for only potassium, bicarbonate, cholesterol, uric acid, bile acids, globulins, and GGT Monocytes were 53% higher in the control group after being exposed to process-affected water. There was no difference between groups in the concentrations of minerals and metals.

Toxicity of vanadium to zooplankton Investigation to determine how toxic vanadium ions in water are to microorganisms such as zooplankton and phytoplankton Bitumen upgrading releases a hydrogen and carbon mixture that contains vanadium atoms in the process as a kind of accidental byproduct. All four kinds of zooplankton had a 100% morality rate when exposed to 1.3 to 8.2 mg of Vanandium per Liter of water for 24 hours In a longer test, only two of the four kinds of zooplankton survived when exposed to a different amount of Vanandium for 21 days. Of the two kinds of zooplankton that survived in this test, about 90% to 100% of each microorganism survived. On the other hand, the other two kinds of zooplankton had severe reproduction problems and did not survive.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in caribou, moose, and wolfs Investigated the PAHs in scat samples collected from a 2500 km2 area. The area would broken down into three parts; Algar (north), Egg Pony (middle), and Wiau (south). The sample were from three animals, the woodland caribou, moose, and grey wolf.

Results Woodland caribou samples from Algar had higher PAH concentrations then the ones in Wiau. Moose samples did not have any differences in concentrations in relation to where they were collected. Grey wolf samples had higher concentrations of PAHs in Waiu than samples from Egg Pony.

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