Quantifying saline groundwater seepage to surface waters in the Athabasca oil sands region

Western Canadian oil sands contain over 170 billion barrels of proven unconventional petroleum reserves currently extracted at 1.8 million barrels per day by either surface mining, or by in situ techniques that require subsurface injection of steam and hydrocarbon solvents. Natural high-salinity springs are known to add water and entrained inorganic and organic constituents to the Athabasca River and its tributaries in the region of ongoing bitumen production. However, the magnitude and synoptic distribution of these saline inputs has remained unquantified. Here, a chloride mass balance is used to estimate saline groundwater discharge to the Athabasca River from 1987 to 2010. Results show that the highest saline water discharge rate to the Athabasca River occurs between Ft. McMurray and the Peace-Athabasca Delta, supported by subcrop exposure of lower Cretaceous- and Devonian-aged formations bearing saline waters. Further, the input of saline groundwater is found to be an important control on the chemistry of the lower Athabasca River, despite comprising 10⁻¹ to 3% of the Athabasca River’s discharge. The flux of natural saline groundwater entering the Athabasca does not appear to have increased or decreased from 1987 to 2010. The origin of seep salinity is interpreted as relict subglacial meltwater that has dissolved Devonian-aged evaporites, supported by saline Na-Cl type waters with low ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ²H/¹H ratios relative to modern precipitation. The magnitude of groundwater discharge and its impact on the Athabasca River’s chemistry in the area of ongoing bitumen development warrants the incorporation of natural groundwater seepages into surface water quality monitoring networks.     

Relationship between ecological indicators (Arcellacea), total mercury concentrations and grain size in lakes within the Athabasca oil sands region,Alberta

Industrial mercury (Hg) sources associated with the processing of Athabasca oil sands (AOS), Alberta, Canada, may pose an environmental risk to nearby water bodies via either waterborne or airborne transport. Using a dataset derived from 63 lakes in the area, this study investigates the relationships between total-Hg (THg), organic matter, grain size, and lake ecology as measured by environmentally sensitive arcellacean (testate lobose amoebae) communities. The lakes studied include 59 lakes within a 75 km radius of the operations, plus four distal lakes ~150 km from the main industrial operations. Hg transport to the lakes is primarily through airborne pathways. The four distal lakes in the Peace–Athabasca Delta (~150 km downstream of the AOS operations) were examined to determine if the operation is emitting potential waterborne inputs, in addition to airborne inputs, and to identify any associated impact to those ecosystems. Total mercury in lakes close to the AOS were similar to values recorded in lakes farthest away. THg was most closely linked to the silt fraction, suggesting much of the Hg in these lakes is minerogenic in origin, either adsorbed and/or lattice-bound. THg is not statistically related to organic matter as has been observed in other Canadian lakes. The ecologic response to THg levels was investigated via the distribution of key indicator species and, or species diversity (Shannon diversity index). The spatial extent of arcellacean ecosystem stress in the study lakes did not correlate with THg concentrations. This is perhaps due to the generally low THg levels found in these lakes, all except one had THg concentrations lower than current CCME guidelines. While these findings may rule out any direct link between THg concentrations in the lakes and observed Arcellacea faunas, ecosystem stress unrelated to THg was observed northeast of the AOS, which warrants further examination. The results of this research suggest that the natural lake arcellacean faunas in the region are not being significantly impacted by current THg concentrations.     

Bound carboxylic acids in the Alberta oil sands

The Alberta oil sands contain 1–2% organic solvent insoluble organic matter chemisorbed to the inorganic matrix. Analysis of the monocarboxylic fraction (1–14%) of the chemisorbed material has revealed the presence of C₁₂–C₃₂ normal, iso, anteiso alkenoic acids, mono and diunsaturated acids, cyclopropylalkanoic and cyclic terpenoid carboxylic acids. Some of the main components of the acyclic acids were similar to those which have been identified in various petroleums and Alberta oil sand bitumens (in small concentrations) by Mackenzie et al. (Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1981, pp 637–649, Wiley/Heyden, 1983), and attributed to bacterial degradation of the oils via the aerobic pathway of biosynthesis.The presence of these acids in the chemisorbed fraction and virtual absence in the bitumen lends additional support to earlier proposals that the Alberta oil sand bitumens have undergone severe microbial degradation.     

Large-scale moraine deformation at the Athabasca Glacier,Jasper National Park,Alberta, Canada

In this paper the development of a large-scale gravitational deformation involving the eastern lateral moraine of the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, is described. Interpretation and analysis of sequential aerial photographs indicates that a 540-m-wide segment of the eastern lateral moraine began to deform in the early 1950s; however, significant movement only began in the late 1960s. Since then, the moraine has undergone progressive gravitational deformation leading to a network of fractures, bulging, and the development of a large gap in the moraine crest. Geographic information system analysis of topographic changes between 1967 and 2006 indicates that the displaced volume of the moraine is approximately 9.0 × 10⁵ m³. In the last 39 years, the moraine crest has displaced 55 m (1.4 m yr⁻¹) down towards the glacier. The development of slope instability is linked to a combination of debuttressing from recent glacier recession, deformation of the moraine, as well as the movement of a large, mobile, debris-mantled slope impinging the upslope margin of the lateral moraine. This case study illustrates the importance of glacial conditioning and local geomorphological factors in creating conditions for large-scale moraine instability in recently deglacierized alpine basins.     

Physicochemical gradients,diffusive flux,and sediment oxygen demand within oil sands tailings materials from Alberta,Canada

The Athabasca Oil Sands contain one of the world's largest oil reserves consisting of approximately 168 billion barrels of currently recoverable bitumen. With 20% recoverable through open pit mining methods, this extraction process produces a considerable amount of fluid fine tailings (FFT) waste material, which must be deposited on site in tailings ponds. These ponds allow the waste sand, clay and residual bitumen to settle out of the water column, allowing for the water to be recycled for use again in the extraction process. It is vital to gain a better understanding of the processes contributing to the development of physicochemical gradients (pH, Eh, Oxygen etc…) that form in these tailings ponds over time, with the goal of remediation and subsequent construction of end-pit lake systems once oil extraction has ceased. To differentiate between the impacts of biotic and abiotic processes in fresh (newly processed material) and mature FFT (∼38 year old tailings) over a 52-week study, a specific experimental design was utilized in accordance with novel microsensor profiling techniques. The sulfide diffusive fluxes within mature biotic systems measured 37.6 μmol m⁻² day⁻¹ at the onset of the experiment, decreasing over time, as FeS mineralization progressed. In addition, DO fluxes also showed strong correlation to the physical affects of consolidation, and overall biological consumption of O₂ at the FFT-water interface. This holistic study comparing different tailings pond materials provides insight regarding biotransformation and physicochemical controls effecting sediment oxygen demand associated with reclaimed wetlands and end pit lake development.     

加拿大阿萨巴斯卡地区泥炭脂类分子记录的古气候信息

为了进一步了解泥炭中脂类分子化合物的分布与植被演化和气候变化的响应关系,对采自加拿大阿尔伯塔省东北部阿萨巴斯卡地区的JPH4、Mildred和McMurray泥炭柱样品中的脂类分子进行测定。根据正构烷烃、正烷酮、甾类和萜类等分子化合物的地球化学分析,结合年代学资料,重建了研究区近千年来的古气候演化过程。现代暖期以来(1990年以来),区内大范围的锈色泥炭藓发育,指示温暖干旱的气候条件;现代暖期早期(1900年以来),陆源高等植物和狭叶泥炭藓共存于干-湿交替的气候环境下;JPH4泥炭柱记录了小冰期期间寒冷干旱的气候环境,该时期莎草科等陆生维管植物发育;上述结论与前人记录的区域植被和气候变化具有较好的可比性。研究区发育的锈色泥炭藓种类特殊,多形成于干旱环境且具有C₃₁正构烷烃优势分布,ACL、P_aq、C₂₃/(C₂₇+C₃₁)正构烷烃指标能够有效表征植被输入特征和气候变化。正烷酮主要来源于相应正构烷烃的微生物氧化作用,正烷酮指标CPI-ket、ACL-ket和(K₂₃     

Sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to northwestern Saskatchewan lakes east of the Athabasca oil sands

The past several decades have witnessed a significant expansion of mining activities in the Athabasca oil sands region, raising concerns about their impact on the surrounding boreal forest ecosystem. To better understand the extent to which distal sites are impacted by oil sands-derived airborne contaminants, we examine sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments and dated sediment cores from Saskatchewan lakes situated ∼100–220 km east–northeast of the main area of bitumen mining activities. The concentrations and fluxes of both parent and alkylated PAHs are low and show considerable variability over the past 70–100 years. Small yet discernible increases in PAH concentrations and fluxes occurred over the past 30 years, a trend which coincides with the rapid growth in bitumen production. However, several lines of evidence point to wildfires as the principal source of PAHs to these lakes: (1) the significant co-variations in most cores between retene (1-methyl-7-isopropyl phenanthrene) and other groups of parent and alkylated PAHs, (2) the similarity in compound specific δ¹³C signatures of the parent PAHs phenanthrene and pyrene in recently deposited surficial sediments and those corresponding to time intervals considerably pre-dating the large scale development of the oil sands and (3) the discernible up-core increases in the proportion of refractory carbon (i.e., char) in Rock-Eval 6 data. The collective evidence points to softwood combustion from boreal forest fires as the principal source of retene in sediments and the general increase in forest fire activity in this region over the past several decades as the source of refractory carbon. Mining activities associated with the Athabasca oil sands are thus not considered a major source of PAHs to these lakes.     

The identification of 9-n-alkyl fluorene-9-ols in the Alberta oil sands

Homologous series of 9-n-alkyl fluorene-9-ols and their nuclear methylated derivatives have been detected in the Alberta oil sands and their structure identified by infrared, field ionization and capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and by comparison with synthetic standards.     

Economic and environmental risks and uncertainty in frontier resource development: Case study of the Athabasca oil sands

Resource extraction projects in frontier regions may give rise to many problems concerning their economic viability and also their impact on the environment. The mining and processing activity in the oil sands of Alberta is a case in point. This area comprises one of the largest reservoirs of oil in the world. Long-run supply considerations in both Canada and the rest of the world should lead to further development of these oil sands. However, a review of the first two projects reveals considerable economic and environmental uncertainty. The economics of the project currently under way are questionable mainly because of inflated costs on one hand and uncertain future oil prices on the other. Controversy has developed over aspects of the land, water, and atmospheric environmental impacts of the projects partly because development proceeded before extensive studies were done. All these concerns have led to uncertainty concerning future projects and also the price the people of Alberta and Canada will pay, in economic and environmental terms, for development in this area.     

Deep channel sedimentation in the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation, Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta

ABSTRACT In the region of the Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta, the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation comprises 50-80 m of uncemented quartz sand and associated shale, saturated throughout by bitumen. The sediments are dominantly of continental origin, except in the uppermost parts of the formation where sedimentation was influenced by the encroaching boreal sea.
In most outcrop and mine face exposures of the McMurray Formation, a sequence of three facies is recognized. In ascending order these are: (1) an erosionally based thick-bedded sand facies, 2-20 m thick, dominated by large-scale trough cross-beds; (2) an epsilon cross-stratified facies with solitary sets up to 25 m in thickness, consisting of decimetre to metre thick couplets of sand/mud, with depositional slopes of 8-12° and palaeocurrent indications parallel to the strike of the epsilon cross-set; and (3) a horizontally bedded argillaceous sand facies up to a few metres thick. The three-fold sequence is interpreted as a single upward-fining cycle of channel sedimentation, the trough cross-bedded sands resulting from channel bottom deposition, the epsilon cross-strata accumulating by lateral accretion of channel point bars, and the upper argillaceous sand representing floodplain sedimentation. Where the McMurray Formation is relatively thin (less than 50 m), virtually the entire formation is commonly composed of a single upward-fining channel deposit.
Details of the size and physiographic setting of the channels are somewhat uncertain, but the present evidence suggests that the epsilon-dominated McMurray Formation sequence in the Athabasca Deposit region represents the coastal plain culmination of a very large fluvial drainage system.     

加拿大Athabasca地区下白垩统McMurray组沉积特征分析

在前人研究基础上,通过钻井岩心描述和测井曲线对比,根据岩石学特征、沉积相标志、测井相标志等对加拿大Athabasca地区下白垩统McMurray组进行了沉积特征分析。McMurray组主要发育了河流相、三角洲相和滨海沉积,总体呈海平面相对上升变化。纵向上,中下部层序以河流相为主,沉积物多为来自盆地周边的近物源,以西部物源为主。短河流汇入盆地后可沿盆地长轴南北发育,成为北部区块的长物源。上部层序受西北方向海侵的影响,自北向南发育滨海-河口湾-三角洲相沉积。     

Sulfate yields and isotopic ratios of sulfate sulfur in rivers of the Northwest Territories,Canada

Rivers in the Northwest Territories draining the Canadian Shield in the zone of continuous permafrost have sulfate yields ranging from 3 to 6 meq m⁻² yr⁻¹. Stable isotope ratios of sulfate sulfur from these rivers range from −0.91 to +7.01%. The negative value obtained for the Quoich River may indicate the presence of reduced sulfur compounds in its watershed. Results for the Tree. Ellice and Back Rivers may have been influenced by seasalt. Results for the other rivers are very similar to those obtained for surface waters at lower latitudes (47°N), indicating that the processes affecting the isotopic ratios of sulfate sulfur in surface waters operate similarly at 65°N and at 47°N.     

Deglaciation ages and meltwater routing in the Fort McMurray region,northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan,Canada

A field-based reconstruction of the deglacial paleogeography in the Fort McMurray area permits: 1) constraining the timing of meltwater routing to the Arctic from the present Hudson Bay drainage basin; and 2) minimum-age estimates for ice-margin positions that can be used to constrain ice-sheet modeling results. A downslope recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet resulted in a series of proglacial lakes forming between the ice margin and higher land to the southwest. The paleogeography of these lakes is poorly constrained in part from the masking effect of boreal forest vegetation and map-scale issues. However, recent space-shuttle based DEMs increase the number and spatial extent of moraines identified within the study area resulting in a coherent pattern of ice margin retreat focused on the Athabasca River valley. An intensive lake-coring program resulted in a minimum ten-fold increase in the radiocarbon database used to limit moraine ages. Results indicate that deglaciation in this region was younger than previously reported, and it is likely that the meltwater could not drain northward to the Arctic Ocean from any source southeast of the Fort McMurray area until approximately 9850–9660 ¹⁴C BP.     

Microcosm assessment of the biogeochemical development of sulfur and oxygen in oil sands fluid fine tailings

Bitumen recovery from Alberta oil sands generates fluid fine tailings, which are retained in tailings ponds where solids settle and release process water. The recovered water is recycled for bitumen extraction, while the resulting tailings are incorporated into various landforms for reclamation, with one option being conversion of tailings basins to viable end pit lakes. Tailings ponds commonly host diverse microbial communities, including SO₄-reducing prokaryotes. The highly reducing nature of the hydrogen sulfide produced by these prokaryotes may impact the biogeochemical cycling of key nutrients. However, the behavioral dynamics of hydrogen sulfide production in ponds containing fluid fine tailings remain to be clearly explained. In this study, microcosms are used as analogues of the sediment–water interface of a tailings pond undergoing reclamation to determine sulfide generation patterns and the behavior of O₂. In the microcosms, hydrogen sulfide fluxes correlated positively with biotic activity, reaching levels of over 2 × 10³ nmol cm⁻² s⁻¹, leading to Fe sulfide formation. Depth-related hydrogen sulfide profiles in the microcosms were comparable to those encountered in situ, in Syncrude’s West In-Pit, an active tailing pond. Oxygen diffusion across the fluid fine tailing sediment–water interface was controlled to different degrees by both biotic and abiotic processes. The results have implications for quantitatively estimating the impact of hydrogen sulfide production, O₂ availability, and biogeochemical cycling of key nutrients important for the success of life in fluid fine tailings-affected ecosystems. This paper shows that this production of hydrogen sulfide may be a self-limiting process, which will begin to decrease after a period of time.     

Separating contributions from natural and anthropogenic sources in atmospheric methane from the Black Sea region,Romania

The Danube Delta-Black Sea region of Romania is an important wetland, and this preliminary study evaluates the significance of this region as a source of atmospheric CH₄. Measurements of the mixing ratio and δ¹³C in CH₄ are reported from air and water samples collected at eight sites in the Danube Delta. High mixing ratios of CH₄ were found in air (2500–14,000 ppb) and dissolved in water samples (∼1–10 μmol L⁻¹), demonstrating that the Danube Delta is an important natural source of CH₄. The intercepts on Keeling plots of about −62‰ show that the main source of CH₄ in this region is microbial, probably resulting primarily from acetate fermentation. Atmospheric CH₄ and CO data from the NOAA/ESRL (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Earth System Research Laboratory) were used to make a preliminary estimate of biogenic CH₄ at the Black Sea sampling site at Constanta (BSC). These data were used to calculate ratios of CH₄/CO in air samples, and using an assumed CH₄/CO anthropogenic emissions ratio of 0.6, fossil fuel emissions at BSC were estimated. Biogenic CH₄ emissions were then estimated by a simple mass balance approach. Keeling plots of well-mixed air from the BSC site suggested a stronger wetland source in summer and a stronger fossil fuel source in winter.     

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.