Midterm 3 (Lectures 11, 12, 13) Flashcards
Canadian tar sands mining are the ____ largest oil reserves in the world
fourth
Open pit mining occupies ____ square kilometres
1030
Northern Alberta’s oilsands are located directly upstream of:
wood buffalo national park
what is oil sands process water?
any water that has been in contact with the tar sand. produced during the extraction phase where bitumen is separated from sand and silt
estimate of ____ barrels OSPW produced in 2014, estimated _____ barrels OSPW expected by 2030
2.15 million/day
3.93 million/day
Where does OSPW go?
large tailings ponds due to no discharge policy
OSPW can be toxic to:
prokaryotes and eukaryotes
small amounts of remediation of OSPW occurs during:
oxidation and photodegradation
is there a way for OSPW to be released back into the environment?
No, no efficient or cost effective way
what is the composition of ospw?
70-80% water
20-30% solids (sand, silt, clay minerals)
1-3% residual bitumen
what changes the composition of ospw?
age, source, location within tailings ponds
ospw has around 3000 ______
elemental compositions
what are the most common elemental compositions of ospw?
naphthenic acids (NA)
polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC)
BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene)
phenols
heavy metals
ions (sodium, sulfate, bicarbonate, chloride)
what are two facts of wood frogs?
- adults lay eggs in marsh lands or small ponds
- after hatching, tadpoles spend 3-4 months entirely aqueous until metamorphosis
why use wood frogs as a receptor species?
native species to the tar sands region
what were some of the effects of NAs on wood frogs?
mortality, birth defects, decreased growth and development
What are NAs and where are they found?
NAs are natural in origin, are detected near bitumen deposits
what are NA levels upstream and downstream of the tar sands?
up: 1-5 μg/L
down: up to 10 μg/L = LC50 of wood frog exposure
how many operational tar sands mines are in one area?
8
what are two difficulties of having tar sand mines so close together?
- how do you identify that the results are due to tar sands and not natural erosion?
- how do you identify which mine is responsible?
how many metal and diamonds mines were subject to MMER in 2003 vs 2018?
2003: 73
2018: 140 metal, 5 diamond
what are the 2 requirements of environmental effects monitoring (EEM)? what do they measure?
- water quality monitoring: effluent characterization and sublethal testing on fish
- biological monitoring: statistical assessment of ‘effects’ (exposed vs. unexposed)
what are the 2 requirements for water quality monitoring studies and what do they measure?
- water quality monitoring: changes in receiving environment due to mine discharge, compares water quality from exposed and reference areas (deleterious substances & other parameters: metals, ammonia, nitrate, pH, DO, temp, TOC, DOC, sulphate, alkalinity)
- sublethal toxicity testing on effluent: is there evidence that mine effluent affects fish, inverts, aquatic plants? does it change over time?, fish early life stage development, reproduction of an invertebrate, algal growth inhibition and reproduction
how often is sublethal toxicity testing on effluent required?
2x/year for first 3 years
name one fish species, invert species, plant species, algal species, and marine species used for effluent testing, as well as what is tested:
fish: fathead minnow - larval growth and survival
invert: ceriodaphnia dubia - reproduction and survival
plant: lemna minor - inhibition of growth
algal: pseudokirchneriella subcapitata - inhibition of growth
marine: giant kelp (macrocystis pyrifera) - inhibition of growth
biological monitoring studies in receiving environment to determine if effluent has an effect on:
a) fish (fish population survey)
b) fish habitat (benthic invertebrate community survey)
c) fish tissue survey (only conducted in Hg concentration greater or equal to 0.10 μg/L in effluent)
when are biological monitoring studies required?
every 3 years but if no effects every 6 years
name 2 core indicators for fish surveys (what they measure and what the indicator is):
1) liver weight relative to body weight - energy storage (liver somatic index)
2) body weight relative to body length - condition
name 2 core indicators for benthic invertebrate community surveys (what they measure and what the indicator is):
1) total abundance - number of animals
2) taxon richness - number of taxa or kinds of animals
what do Simpson’s index and Bray-Curtis index measure?
- how evenly the animals are distributed among the taxa
- overall community composition
when is relative gonad size, relative liver size, and condition considered statistically significant in fish surveys?
- +/- 25%
- +/- 25%
- +/- 10%
when is the parameters for benthic communities surveying considered statistically significant?
+/- 2 SD
what is CES?
a threshold difference between reference and exposed site above which effects may be indicative of potential higher risk to the environment
what has CES been developed for?
fish population and benthic inver community components of the metal and diamond mining effluent regulations
what parameters did sublethal toxicity from the polley mine leak most effect? least effect?
invertebrate reproduction, aquatic plant growth (up/down), least = fish larval growth
tailings are:
crushed rock left over after copper/gold is removed
tailings contain ____ levels of copper compared to:
higher, natural background levels in surrounding rocks that are not mined
how big is the mount polley mine?
20,000 Ha, processes 20,000 tons/day
what are the 6 ways amphibian and fish species can be exposed to effluent?
- water ingestion
- direct contact (pore water/surface water)
- food consumption
- direct contact (sediment)
- incidental sediment ingestion
- contact with resuspended sediment
what is the biotic ligand model?
gill surface referred to as biotic ligand and gill cells possess several ion channels that typically regulate essential nutrients (calcium, sodium), also where free metal cations can bind and enter the gill cells preventing uptake of essential nutrients
what does BLM cause?
osmotic imbalances and/or deficiencies in essential nutrients in organism = harms/destroys gill epithelium
what does the BLM describe?
interactions between metals, metal species, metal complexes and constituents in water such as hardness, pH