Poisoning the well: neoliberalism and the contamination of municipal water in Walkerton, Ontario

In May of 2000, thousands of residents of the town of Walkerton, Ontario became ill from drinking municipal water contaminated by Escherichia coli and Campylobacter jejuni bacteria. Seven people died, while many suffered debilitating injuries. A highly unusual and risk prone local hydrological regime, coupled with manure spreading on farms near municipal wells, and lax oversight by municipal water utility officials, were quickly blamed by Ontario government figures, including then premier Mike Harris. However, the scandal surrounding Walkerton's tragedy and a subsequent public inquiry into the incident also implicated neoliberal reforms of environmental governance introduced by Harris's government subsequent to its election in 1995. This paper examines the Walkerton incident as an important example of a “normal accident” of neoliberalism, one that can be expected from neoliberal environmental regulatory reforms arising from systematic irresponsibility in environmental governance. This irresponsibility is promulgated by an overarching hostility to any regulatory interference with free markets, as well as specific regulatory gaps that produce environmental risks. The paper also serves as a case study of the extent to which neoliberalism is constituted by environmental governance reform, and conversely, how environmental governance reform is reconfigured as part of the emergent neoliberal mode of social regulation.     

Provenance of buried esker groundwater: the case of Vars-Winchester esker aquifer,Eastern Ontario,Canada

An innovative mode of groundwater recharge to a buried esker aquifer is considered. The current conceptual model affords a natural safeguard to underlying aquifers from the overlying muds. A hypothesis of groundwater recharge to a buried esker aquifer via preferential pathways across its overlying muds is tested here by heuristic numerical one-dimensional and two-dimensional modeling simulations. The hypothesis has been tested against two other conventionally accepted scenarios involving: (1) distal esker outcrop areas and (2) remote shallow-bedrock recharge areas. The main evidence comes from documented recharge pressure pulses in the overlying mud aquitard and in the underlying esker hydraulic-head time series for the Vars-Winchester esker aquifer in Eastern Ontario, Canada. These perturbations to the potentiometric surface are believed to be the aquifer response to recharge events. The migration rate of these pressure pulses is directly related to the hydraulic diffusivity of the formation. The measured response time and response amplitude between singular radar precipitation events and well hydrographs constituted the heuristic model calibration targets. The main evidence also includes mud-layering deformation (water escape features) which was observed in seismic surveys of the over-esker muds. These disturbed stratigraphic elements provide a realistic mechanism for migrating water to transit through the muds. The effective hydraulic conductivities of these preferential pathways in the muds were estimated to be between 2?×?10^?6 and 7?×?10^?6 m/s. The implications of these findings relate to the alleged natural safeguard of these overlying muds.     

A subsurface Middle Wisconsinan interstadial site at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Commercial borings to a depth of 36 m encountered organic sediments under till. A continuously cored borehole was subsequently put down to 42 m and revealed a succession of sand and silt, over clayey Maryhill hill, over sandy Catfish Creek Till, over fossiliferous sand. Pollen, plant macrofossils, and a few ostracodes, molluscs, and insects provide a coherent picture of interstadial conditions. Two pollen zones are represented. The older zone is characterized by Picea and ThujalJuniperus pollen, and Dryopteris- type and Sphagnum spores, which suggest a lowland, forested peatland. Reduction of peatland, and transition to a wetland with more open water associated with a stream is indicated by an increase in Cyperaceae pollen, Pediastrum algae, and a diversity of aquatic plant macrofossils during the later zone. Fossil plant assemblages are similar to modern southern boreal associations in Ontario, which implies that the climate was cooler and possibly drier than the present. Phytogeographically, Picea needles and wood, and seeds of Brasenia schreberi and Potamogetan spirillus are noteworthy among the plant macrofossils. The sequence of Late Wisconsinan tills overlying the fossiliferous zone implies a Middle Wisconsinan age for the interstadial. This is supported by an accelerator radiocarbon date on small wood pieces of 40,080 + 1,200 years B.P.     

Quaternary stratigraphy and geochemistry at the Owl Creek Gold Mine, Timmins, Ontario, Canada

The Owl Creek Gold Mine is located in Hoyle Township, approximately 18 km northeast of Timmins, Ontario, Canada. The open-pit mine exposes a sequence of altered and mineralized mafic tholeiitic volcanics bounded to the north and south by greywacke and argillite. Gold occurs in the free state in quartz veins, often with graphite, and as fine gold on surfaces of, and within fractures in, pyrite.The study was designed to determine the distribution and distance of transport of Au in overburden down-ice from subcropping Au mineralization. This required an understanding of the glacial history of the area.The Quaternary stratigraphy at Owl Creek was studied and sampled by means of 17 sonic and 15 reverse-circulation overburden drill holes near the open pit, and several overburden exposures in the open-pit walls. Nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates (specific gravity >3.3) were made from the <2000 μm (−10 mesh) fraction of all overburden samples from the drill hole and section sampling. The heavy-mineral concentrates were analyzed for Au by neutron activation. A till pebble lithology study was done on the >2000 μm (−10 mesh) fraction of the sonic drill core.Our stratigraphic studies indicate that there were three major Wisconsinan (Weichselian) ice advances and one minor, late readvance in the Timmins area. The transport and deposition of sediments comprising the “Oldest”, “Older”, Matheson and Cochrane stratigraphic “packages” (oldest to youngest) are related to three ice advances and one readvance which moved towards 240° ± 10°, 150° ± 5°, 170° ± 5° and 130° ± 5°, respectively.Geochemically anomalous levels of Au in the overburden define two dispersal trains down-ice of the Owl Creek Gold Mine. One, in the “Older” lodgement till, is 400–500 m long. The other in Matheson ablation and waterlain tills, is approximately 700 m long.The till pebble lithology study showed that pebble counting can be used to approximate bedrock contacts, but may not necessarily identify the source rock type of the matrix.     

Coherent slumping of early postglacial lake sediments at Hall Lake, Ontario, Canada

Cores of organic postglacial sediment from Hall Lake, southern Ontario, Canada, are described. The laminated, calcareous sediments deposited between 9,000 and 8,000 B.P. have coherently slumped into the deep part of the lake, causing overturning and replication of parts of the sequence. This process may be considered as a mechanism for sediment focusing, since it involves reworking of marginal sediments into deeper areas. Unlike previously described mechanisms, it may be a source of error in the interpretation of diagrams of pollen percentages as well as accumulation rates. The slumping has only been recognized through the distortion of the laminae. It might not be possible to recognize slumping in unstratified sequences.     

Source of lead in the gold-bearing quartz-fuchsite vein at the Dome mine,Timmins area,Ontario, Canada

The quartz-fuchsite vein at the Dome mine, Timmins area, Canada, is characterized by a consistent spatial association of gold and galena. A lead isotope study was carried out to trace the source of the lead in the galenas, and to evaluate possible source reservoirs for the gold. Although other sources cannot be entirely ruled out, the lead isotope composition of most of the galenas and of local quartz-feldspar porphyries suggests that most of the lead in the vein-galenas was derived from the Dome mine porphyries. However, lead isotope systematics do not allow unique constraints to be placed on the gold source. Conceptual genetic models commonly advocate gold source reservoirs such as shallow to deep seated igneous intrusions, the middle to lower crust or the mantle for Archean lode gold deposits. A likely scenario is that ore-bearing hydrothermal fluids originated at depth, and were preferentially channeled along the porphyries to the site of ore deposition. The hydrothermal fluids leached lead from the porphyries, and deposited gold and galena together in the quartz-fuchsite vein. Two galena samples have anomalous lead compositions and are colinear with the main galena cluster suggesting one or more contamination episodes, broadly between 1250 and 2480 Ma, resulting in further addition of radiogenic lead to the galenas.     

Genesis of the Woodstock drumlin field, southern Ontario, Canada

The Woodstock drumlin field was formed about 15,000 years ago during the Port Bruce Stadial of the Late Wisconsinan. It consists of three sections, each composed of texturally different till sheets (Tavistock A, B and C Tills) deposited during marginal oscillations of the Huron ice lobe advancing from the Lake Huron depression. A statistically significant relation between till texture and drumlin morphometry has been determined. Features composed of clayey-silt Tavistock A Till are smaller and more elongate than those built up of sandy-silt Tavistock C Till, which reflects a different susceptibility of the drumlin deposits to the moulding action of the glacier. Based on the field data it is suggested that the drumlinizing glacier was temperate all the way up to its margin and basal sliding occurred also at its outermost peripheries. In the drumlin region immediately behind end moraines the shear strength/shear stress ratio was around I and increased progressively in the upstream direction. In the proposed mechanism of drumlin formation the key factor is pore water dissipation (1) through the permeable substratum and (2) into dilatantly expanding granular deposits, both resulting in the necessary increase of the basal till strength.     

Geochemistry of halogens in the Milk River aquifer,Alberta, Canada

Analytical data are presented for Cl, Br and I on a regional scale for the Milk River aquifer. The three halides show strikingly similar spatial distributions and are highly correlated. Concentrations are low in the freshwater portions of the aquifer but increase by as much as two orders of magnitude along the margins. However, halide ratios reach nearly constant values moving down-gradient, suggesting the dominance of a common subsurface source for these ions. Ratios of Cl/I and Cl/Br are less than those of seawater and fit an origin derived from the diagenesis of organic matter in the sediments. Halide ratios rule out leakage and/or diffusion from the underlying Colorado Group as a major influence on the chemistry; the favored hypothesis is altered connate seawater diffusing from low-permeability units within the Milk River Formation as the primary source of salts. This hypothesis of an internal source has important implications for solute sources in other aquifers affected by saline waters because it does not require the importation of a distant fluid.The¹²⁹I/I ratio has a meteoric value in groundwater collected near the recharge area, but ratios for downflow waters are only 8–70% of this value. Due to the 16 Ma half-life of¹²⁹I, these data indicate that most of the increase in dissolved I cannot derive from concentration of a meteoric source by ion filtration, but must have a subsurface origin. Concentrations of¹²⁹I producedin situ by spontaneous fission of²³⁸U attain measurable levels only in the oldest waters sampled (ages≥ 10⁵a), in which it may account for nearly 90% of the total dissolved¹²⁹I concentration.Water ages based upon³⁶Cl/Cl data range up to 2 Ma if uncorrected for any dilution by subsurface sources of dead Cl. If one assumes that the subsurface contributions of Cl contribute at least 90% of total Cl in the distal portion, then the³⁶Cl-based ages are reduced to ∼ 1Ma, somewhat greater than those estimated by hydrodynamic modeling.     

Metasomatic effects in the Faraday Metagabbro,Bancroft, Ontario,Canada

Summary The Middle Proterozoic Faraday Metagabbro in the Bancroft area of eastern Ontario has been subjected to syn-orogenic textural and mineralogical modifications resulting in the formation of scapolite-bearing metagabbro and gabbroic blastomylonite assemblages. The elemental flux during cryptic and overt scapolitization has been calculated usingGresens general metasomatic equation which applies corrections for density and volume changes during alteration. Metasomatic variation diagrams using analyses from two primary gabbros and six altered rocks indicate that Na, K, Cl, Li, Rb, and Ba are the principal introduced elements and that Cu and S were removed. These changes are very similar to those involved in the formation of metasomatic nepheline-bearing rocks elsewhere in the district and, furthermore, nephelinization and scapolitization were broadly coincident in time and space. It is concluded that the nephelin- and scapolite-bearing rocks and their cryptic facies are different manifestations of the same metasomatic agent and that the source of the fluids was a possible horizon of evaporitic sediments within the country rocks in which the gabbro was emplaced.

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Metasomatose im Faraday-Metagabbro, Bancroft, Ontario, Kanada

Zusammenfassung Der Mittel-proterozoische Faraday-Gabbro in der Umgebung von Bancroft (Ost-Ontario) erfuhr synorogene Veränderungen in Textur und Mineralogie, die zur Bildung skapolit-haltiger Metagabbros und gabbroider Blastomylonite führten. Die während kryptischer und offener Skapolitisierung stattfindende Elementtransport wurde mit Hilfe der vonGresens entwickelten generellen metasomatischen Gleichung errechnet; Korrekturen für Varänderungen in spezifischer Dichte und Volumen wurden angebracht. Metasomatische Variationsdiagramme basierend auf Analysen an zwei primären Gabbros und sechs modifizierten Gesteinen zeigen, daß Na, K, Cl, Li, Rb und Ba die hauptsächlich zugeführten Elemente darstellen, und daß Cu-und S-Konzentrationen abgebaut wurden. Diese Veränderungen sind vergleichbar mit solchen, wie sie bei der Bildung metasomatischer, Nephelin-haltiger Gesteine erkannt wurden. Außerdem fallen Nephelinisierung und Skapolitisierung zeitlich und räumlich in etwa zusammen. Daraus kann geschlossen werden, daß Nephelin- und Skapolit-haltige Gesteine und deren kryptische Phasen durch den gleichen metasomatischen Prozeß entstanden sind, und daß die Herkunft der umwandelnden Lösungen möglicherweise in evaporitischen Sedimenten zu suchen ist, in die der Gabbro intrudierte.

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With 3 Figures     

A paleomagnetic investigation of the sudbury basin offsets, Ontario, Canada

The Sudbury offsets are a series of dike-like structures that appear either to radiate out from, or parallel the main Sudbury irruptive. In an attempt to establish the tectonic and magmatic relationship of these offsets to the main irruptive over 50 sites from 8 offsets were sampled for a paleomagnetic survey. From the over 10,000 measurements it is possible to derive a number of conclusions. First, the offsets are the end product of at least four separate intrusive pulses exactly the same as the main irruptive. The initial formation of the offsets coincides with the intrusion of the norite in the main irruptive. Second, the oldest remanence direction from the offsets exhibits the same directional differences between the north and south ranges as is seen in the norite component of the main irruptive. The offsets must therefore have suffered the same magnitude and sense of tectonic rotations as the immediately adjacent sector of the main irruptive. Three remanence components appear to be intimately associated with the distribution of sulfide rich zones. Of these three, one undoubtedly records a period of magmatic sulphide deposition. The other two appear to be recording mineralization events which require longer periods of remanence blocking and possible models include remobilization and redeposition of pre-existing deposits, and secondary hydrothermal introduction of a new generation of sulphides.     

Isotope hydrology of the Chalk River Laboratories site,Ontario, Canada

This paper presents results of hydrochemical and isotopic analyses of groundwater (fracture water) and porewater, and physical property and water content measurements of bedrock core at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) site in Ontario. Density and water contents were determined and water-loss porosity values were calculated for core samples. Average and standard deviations of density and water-loss porosity of 50 core samples from four boreholes are 2.73 ± 12 g/cc and 1.32 ± 1.24 percent. Respective median values are 2.68 and 0.83 indicating a positive skewness in the distributions. Groundwater samples from four deep boreholes were analyzed for strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and uranium (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) isotope ratios. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses and selected solute concentrations determined by CRL are included for comparison. Groundwater from borehole CRG-1 in a zone between approximately +60 and −240 m elevation is relatively depleted in δ¹⁸O and δ²H perhaps reflecting a slug of water recharged during colder climatic conditions. Porewater was extracted from core samples by centrifugation and analyzed for major dissolved ions and for strontium and uranium isotopes. On average, the extracted water contains 15 times larger concentration of solutes than the groundwater. ²³⁴U/²³⁸U and correlation of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr with Rb/Sr values indicate that the porewater may be substantially older than the groundwater. Results of this study show that the Precambrian gneisses at Chalk River are similar in physical properties and hydrochemical aspects to crystalline rocks being considered for the construction of nuclear waste repositories in other regions.     

Gravelly flood deposits of Irvine Creek, Ontario, Canada

In May 1974 a powerful flood flushed the Grand River basin, Ontario. The effects on the bedload were drastic in a narrow (30 m) and deep (40 m) rock walled and floored gorge near Elora, Ontario. Along Irvine Creek, the tributary occupying the gorge, the gravel cover was reworked in several types of bars, predominantly transverse and point bars. The bars formed very rapidly in response to essentially steady, non-uniform flow that developed during a brief period of high flood. Superimposed on major bars are several minor sedimentary features such as coarse transverse ribs, chute channels and bars, longitudinal ribs, imbrication clusters, backsets with well developed imbrication, that were formed under very high stream discharge. Structures like imbrication clusters, transverse ribs and small riffle bars require a ‘live bed’ situation to form, and they develop when stones come to a stop either because they cluster during transport, or because keystone effects occur along shallow channels. In Irvine Creek, very few sedimentary features were formed during waning and low flood stages: only some shadow deposits and a few Ostler lenses. The few fines that were available were lost downstream or filled in lower parts of gravel beds. This study confirms that in streams that experience strong seasonal fluctuations in discharge, bedforms that develop during high floods have a high probability of preservation. In gravelly deposits, foreset structures and plane beds are most commonly preserved, although they may be difficult to recognize in old deposits, which may appear massive, particularly if the gravel has been infilled with finer pebbles and sand. In the case of Irvine Creek, all deposits are organized, and lateral and vertical variations in textures, particularly imbrication and packing, are very useful in the recognition of sedimentary structures.     

Rb-Sr dating of the Lackner Lake Complex,northern Ontario,Canada

The Lackner Lake Complex of northern Ontario consists of nepheline syenite and ijolite with associated bodies of apatite—magnetite rock and carbonatite. A whole-rock Rb-Sr isochron indicates that these rocks crystallized 1078 ± 7 Ma ago ($\text{λ}{}^{87}\text{Rb = 1.39·10}{}^{\mathrm{?11}}\text{a}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$) and had an initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.070282 ± 0.00011. This date is slightly lower than a K-Ar date of 1090 Ma for biotite reported previously, but is in agreement with K-Ar dates of several nearby syenite-carbonatite complexes.     

加拿大Sudbury陨石冲击角砾岩中锆石显微构造与相变

关于加拿大Sudbury构造的成因,现在的学者大多认同其形成于陨石撞击。为了找到更加强有力的证据,文中对取自Sudbury冲击角砾岩中的锆石进行了研究。Sudbury冲击角砾岩是Sudbury构造的特殊现象,采用扫描电镜、结合拉曼光谱方法从角砾岩的锆石中发现了显微构造和相变的证据。所观察到的显微构造呈一系列面状构造(planar microstructure),在3个方向上平行展布,并相互剪切。Sudbury角砾岩锆石的典型Raman谱线中,除锆石的几个峰外,在640cm-1和817cm-1也可见两个峰,并可分别与铁橄榄石和一种ZrO2相匹配。该ZrO2相的谱线也不同于典型的斜锆石,却与López等合成的一种含有0.5%(质量分数)TiO2的ZrO2相非常相似。这些证据显示,一些锆石的颗粒边缘发生了如下反应:ZrSiO4+2FeOZrO2+Fe2SiO4,并已变成了一种ZrO2相和铁橄榄石(fayalite)。这些显微构造和相变特征都能够说明Sudbury角砾岩受到过高压冲击,并进一步支持Sudbury构造的陨石撞击成因。     

Dissolved organic carbon and methane in a regional confined aquifer,southern Ontario,Canada: Carbon isotope evidence for associated subsurface sources

Information regarding the origin, composition and transport of natural dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in groundwater is necessary to understand the transport of metals and organic pollutants, as well as for the use of¹⁴C in DOC as an isotopic groundwater dating method. Previous research in several groundwater systems has suggested soil organic C is the predominant source of high molecular weight DOC to the subsurface. Through the use of stable isotopes,¹⁴C and geochemical analyses, this study shows that significant concentrations of DOC and CH₄ in a regional confined aquifer can be generated in situ from subsurface sedimentary organic sources. The DOC and CH₄ produced is a combined result of degradation of buried peats and bacterial action, resulting in high DOC concentrations and strongly methanogenic conditions in the aquifer. The DOC and CH₄ comprise, on average, nearly 50% of the total dissolved C pool in the central part of the aquifer. Methanogenic conditions complicate isotopic groundwater dating by the conventional dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) method. Estimates of isotopic groundwater residence time using DOC¹⁴C data are proposed by the application of¹⁴C isotope and mass balance corrections.     

Mineralogy of the deadhorse creek volcaniclastic breccia complex,northwestern Ontario,Canada

The Proterozoic Deadhorse Creek volcaniclastic breccia complex was emplaced in Archean metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the Schreiber-White River greenstone belt adjacent to the Proterozoic Coldwell alkaline complex. The western sub-complex of the Deadhorse Creek breccia consists of metasomatically-altered breccia, a U-Be-Zr-rich main mineralized zone and a Zr-Y-Th-rich carbonate vein. The main mineralized zone is enriched in beryllium, thorium, uranium, first and second row transition elements, and rare earth elements. The major minerals present include: albite; potassium feldspar; quartz; calcite; apatite; and phenakite. Accessory minerals include: aegirine-jervisite; aegirine-natalyite; allanite; barite; barylite; coffinite; Ca-Mn-silicate; magnetite; monazite-(Ce); niobian vanadian rutile; pyrite; thorite; thorogummite; thortveitite; uraninite; vanadian crichtonite; xenotime-(Y); zircon and hydrated zircon; and zircon-thorite-coffinite solid solutions. The carbonate vein consists of dolomite-ankerite and calcite with accessory zircon, xenotime, and monazite. Barite, baotite and Ba-rich feldspars, were formed during metasomatism of the earlier-formed and genetically-unrelated volcaniclastic breccia adjacent to the main mineralized zone. The complex mineral assemblage of the fault-controlled main mineralized zone is considered to have formed in three stages. An initial emplacement of a “granitic” melt/fluid was followed by introduction of CO₂-bearing Cr-Nb-V-Ti-enriched alkaline fluids. The latter reacted with minerals which had crystallized from the “granitic” melt/fluid to produce the exotic V-, Sc- and Nb-bearing mineral assemblage. Subsequently, a supergene suite of minerals, consisting principally of calcite, thorogummite, hollandite and tyuyamanite, formed during post-Pleistocene alteration was superimposed onto the pre-existing Proterozoic age mineral assemblage. The major mineralogy of the main mineralized zone is essentially ‘granitic” and the melts/fluids are considered to be derived from an A-type granite source. However, the Deadhorse Creek mineralization is older (1129±6 Ma) than the A-type quartz syenites of the adjacent Coldwell complex (1108±1 Ma) which are the nearest potential sources of such melts. Thus, the source of the “granitic” melt together with that of the Cr-Nb-V-Ti-bearing alkaline fluids remains enigmatic.