| Title | Modeling carbon isotopes in spruce trees reproduces air quality changes due to oil sands operations |
| Author | Savard, M M; Bégin, C; Marion, J |
| Source | Environmental Pollution vol. 45, 2014 p. 1-8, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.03.005 |
| Year | 2014 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20120397 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Alberta |
| NTS | 74D/05; 74D/06; 74D/07; 74D/09; 74D/10; 74D/11; 74D/12; 74D/13; 74D/14; 74D/15; 74E/02; 74E/03; 74E/04; 74E/05; 74E/06; 74E/07; 74E/10; 74E/11; 74E/12 |
| Area | Fort McMurray; MIldred Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -112.0000 -110.5000 57.7500 56.2500 |
| Subjects | environmental geology; vegetation; dendrochronology; carbon isotopes; isotopes; stable isotope studies; pollution; climate; climatic fluctuations; climate effects; petroleum exploration; Air
quality |
| Illustrations | location maps; tables; graphs |
| Program | Environmental Geoscience, Coal & Oil
Resources Environmental Sustainability |
| Abstract | Direct monitoring of air quality does not cover more than the last three decades in most industrialized countries. For that reason studies using growth-ring carbon isotopes (d13C) of several species of
trees have recently investigated isotopic responses in the contexts of stationary and diffuse pollution in humid continental conditions. Here, the growth-ring d13C series (1880–2009) of spruce trees living in sub-humid subarctic conditions were
measured to assess if they represent indicators for air quality changes near oil sands (OS) developments initiated in northeastern Alberta in 1967. The measured d13C pre-operation rings at two forest sites were analyzed along local climatic
conditions to develop response-to-climate statistical models and predict the natural isotopic behaviour for the most recent part of the ring series. The measured trends and climate-modelled (natural) d13C values strongly depart during the operation
period, depicting anomalies which can be nicely reproduced by multiple regression models combining climate and a proxy for OS airborne emissions. This research allows envisioning the use of carbon dendroisotopic indicators to compensate for the lack
of long-term air quality measurement, and monitor environmental conditions in the sub-humid terrestrial ecosystem exposed to emissions from oil sands operations which are predicted to increase in the future. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 292223 |
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