Shallow Groundwater Quality in Alberta (Canada) with a Focus on the Occurrence of Nitrate and Methane
Date
2019-05-04
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Abstract
This study characterized the hydrogeochemistry and redox state of shallow groundwater (< 150 mbgs) in Alberta, with a focus on the occurrence of nitrate and methane. Chemical analyses of > 60,000 groundwater samples collected from landowner wells (part of the Alberta Health Services dataset) were interpreted revealing a dominance of geochemically evolved groundwater (56%, Na-HCO3) and overall highly reducing redox conditions (72%) favourable to denitrification. Redox conditions favourable to the formation and persistence of methane were found in 43% of all samples. Over 31% of the groundwater samples had detectable nitrate concentrations with 9.7% of these samples (3.1% of total samples) exceeding Health Canada’s health-based maximum acceptable concentration of 45 mg NO3/L. Additionally, it was observed that samples exceeded the Health Canada aesthetic objective for total dissolved solids, sodium, sulphate, and chloride in 79%, 61%, 9.4%, and 3.2% of samples, respectively
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Keywords
hydrogeochemistry, redox, landowner wells, groundwater
Citation
Wilson, L. J. (2019). Shallow Groundwater Quality in Alberta (Canada) with a Focus on the Occurrence of Nitrate and Methane (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.