| Title | Using tree cores to evaluate historic atmospheric concentrations and trends of polycyclic aromatic compounds in the Oil Sands region of Alberta, Canada |
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| Author | Rauert, C; Harner, T; Ahad, J M E ; Percy, K E |
| Source | Science of the Total Environment vol. 739, 139996, 2020 p. 1-7, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139996 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2020 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20200110 |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Alberta |
| NTS | 73M; 74D; 74E; 74L; 83P; 84A; 84H; 84I |
| Lat/Long WENS | -113.5000 -110.0000 58.5000 55.7500 |
| Subjects | environmental geology; fossil fuels; economic geology; geochemistry; Nature and Environment; Science and Technology; Economics and Industry; core samples; aromatic hydrocarbons; atmospheric
geochemistry; bituminous sands; oil sands; petroleum resources; mining; Athabasca Oil Sands Region; Methodology; Trees; Atmospheric emissions |
| Illustrations | photographs; plots; profiles; time series |
| Program | Program of Energy Research and Development (PERD) |
| Released | 2020 06 05 |
| Abstract | Tree cores and bark were sampled from jack pine trees at 18 sites in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) of Alberta, Canada, to investigate spatial and temporal trends of polycyclic aromatic compounds
(PACs). Spatial rends were investigated in the bark samples, where sum PAC concentrations ranged from 75 to 3615 ng/g. Highest concentrations were observed from trees within 40 km of the nearest mining or upgrading facility perimeter fence, in
linewith previous deposition studies in the AOSR. The sampled tree cores were separated into segments representing 5 years of growth/atmospheric collection by counting tree rings. A significant increase in PAC concentrations over the lifetime of the
tree was observed at sites with the highest PAC concentrations, and the average % increase in concentration from1970 to 2015was in linewith average % growth in bitumen extraction in the AOSR. Finally, the concentrations in the tree core segments
representing collection from2010 to 2015 were converted into an atmospheric PAC concentration using previously published wood-air partition coefficients. The calculated atmospheric concentrations were within the same range as concentrations reported
from the passive atmospheric sampling network in this region. The importance of site location is highlighted,with forest edge sites providing an improved comparison for atmospheric exposure and deposition. This is the first study to use tree cores to
calculate an atmospheric concentration of PACs, demonstrating the applicability of this methodology for providing historic atmospheric data. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 326418 |
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