The geochemistry of saline springs in the Athabasca oil sands region and their impact on the Clearwater and Athabasca rivers
Date
2013-01-08
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Abstract
The geochemistry of saline springs discharging from Devonian carbonate rocks into the Clearwater and Athabasca rivers in northeastern Alberta was characterized using major ions, trace elements, dissolved gases, and PAHs. In addition, stable isotope analyses of H2O, SO4, DIC, Sr, and Cl were used to trace the provenance of spring waters, dissolved solutes, and subsurface processes affecting water chemistry. Spring waters were found to contain Laurentide glacial meltwater, which was supported by radioisotope analyses. The high salinity of the springs was found to be mainly due to evaporite and carbonate dissolution in the subsurface. Spring waters have been affected by bacterial sulfate reduction, methanogenesis, and methane oxidation. Trace elements and some PAHs were present in low concentrations, the origins of which did not seem to be weathering of bitumen. The total discharge of saline groundwater into the rivers over the study reach was estimated using a Cl isotope mass balance approach, which revealed that saline groundwater accounts for only a very small proportion of the annual mass flux in the rivers of trace elements and PAHs, but accounts for a higher proportion of major ions, particularly in the Clearwater River.
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Geochemistry
Citation
Gue, A. (2013). The geochemistry of saline springs in the Athabasca oil sands region and their impact on the Clearwater and Athabasca rivers (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28159