James Telford - Northwest Territoriessdw.enr.gov.nt.ca/nwtdp_upload/10 - James Telford.pdf · James Telford • Brantford, Ontario • Grew up on the Grand River and Great Lakes,

James Telford • Brantford, Ontario • Grew up on the Grand River and

Great Lakes, Southern Ontario. • Brother. • Graduate Student Researcher

• Wapusk National Park, Manitoba • Peace-Athabasca Delta, Alberta • Marian Watershed, Tłıcho Lands,

NWT. • Academic Partner on Marian

Watershed Stewardship Program

Establishing a metals and hydroecologic baseline to support the Marian Watershed

Stewardship Program

James Telford MSc Candidate

Brent Wolfe - Wilfrid Laurier University Roland Hall - University of Waterloo

Sjoerd van der Wielen – Tłıcho Government, Lands Protection Department

Concerns

Metals Pollution • Pollution from mining and industry

• Mining begins in 1933 • Ray Rock mine • Giant/Con Mine • Future NICO mine?

• How do we track pollution from mines? • Atmospheric transport, through

the air. • River Transport.

Climate Change • Lower water levels

• Less Snow, Higher Temperatures

• More forest fires?

• Catchment Erosion • Forest Fires can cause

rapid erosion • Bedrock Weathering

Natural Sources of Metals

Objectives • Establish a baseline of sediment metals

concentrations from sediment cores at various locations, which can then be used for continued monitoring of surface sediment concentrations to identify potential pollution.

• Track long term changes in hydroecological

conditions to identify natural changes and those changes, which are a result of climate warming

• Give context to current observation of low water levels.

Total Metals (Water) mg/L

Aluminum (Al)

Arsenic (As)

Chromium (Cr) Iron (Fe) Lead (Pb) Mercury (Hg) Uranium

CCME FAL 100 5 1-8.9 300 33/15

Marian 1 124 0.37 0.26 116 <0.000050 <0.0000050 0.201

Marian 2 157 0.37 0.34 147 0.000088 <0.0000050 0.214

Marian 3 145 0.38 0.27 128 0.000052 <0.0000050 0.254

Marian 4 129 0.39 0.24 116 0.000054 <0.0000050 0.243

Marian 5 163 0.41 0.32 147 0.000070 <0.0000050 0.263

Marian 6 131 0.38 0.24 110 <0.000050 <0.0000050 0.262

Marian 7 160 0.42 0.38 142 0.000063 <0.0000050 0.262

Marian 8 144 0.38 0.00 117 <0.000050 <0.0000050 0.249

Marian 9 114 0.35 0.21 93 <0.000050 <0.0000050 0.262

Marian 10 96 0.42 0.23 97 <0.000050 <0.0000050 0.246

Marian 11 113 0.38 0.21 112 0.000058 <0.0000050 0.244

Marian 12 2016 -87 2016 - 0.37

2015 - 0.98 0.17 2016 - 79

<0.000050 <0.0000050 0.244 2015 - 341 2015 - 357

Marian 13 220 2016 -0.81

0.33 132 0.000117 <0.0000050 0.685 2015 – 1.14

Le Martre 1 52 0.40 0.11 52 <0.000050 <0.0000050 0.3

Le Martre 2 128 0.42 1.04 120 0.000188 <0.0000050 0.296

2 3

4 5

7

10

11

12 13

1

6

8 9

1 2

2016 Water Sampling • Water- Very low metals, except Al, likely

natural

2016 Sediment Sampling • Minor elevation in Arsenic,

Chromium, Copper, Zinc • Natural, Geogenic vs

anthropogenic?

Metals (Soil) mg/kg Aluminum Arsenic Cadmium Chromium Copper Iron Lead Manganese Mercury Uranium Zinc

ISQG/PEL 5.9/17 0.6/3.5 37.3/90 35.7/197 35/91.3 0.17/0.486 123/

315

Marian 1 23600 8.63 0.169 63.3 27.5 36700 11.4 1440 0.0347 6.23 94.0

Marian 2 35000 9.63 0.180 96.1 52.0 47600 13.6 746 0.0243 5.78 117

Marian 3 7820 3.15 0.047 18.0 6.53 13900 3.79 598 0.0068 0.743 26.1

Marian 4 19100 3.76 0.096 48.1 21.9 26900 8.60 563 0.0216 1.52 62.0

Marian 5 19500 3.65 0.097 48.0 21.0 27000 8.37 607 0.0205 1.47 63.3

Marian 6 12700 2.95 0.059 30.0 11.0 19700 5.28 571 0.0146 1.13 43.2

Marian 7 41400 12.1 0.140 121 55.7 53400 12.6 723 0.0190 3.17 127

Marian 8 13800 3.08 0.078 35.0 16.3 20400 6.31 458 0.0162 1.42 51.3

Marian 10 23700 4.54 0.145 60.3 25.7 33700 10.0 459 0.0250 2.20 88.2

Marian 11 25200 6.43 0.189 62.0 36.2 36200 13.2 784 0.0268 2.05 85.7 5.43 61.3 37.9 91.8

Marian 12 6490 2.51 0.043 15.9 6.20 10600 3.74 775 0.0081 0.930 23.2 3.73 40.9 20.2 60.6

Marian 13 13100 4.97 0.119 32.2 15.9 20600 6.62 273 0.0232 1.24 47.6 7.82 80.2 32.4 103

Le Martre 1 13400 3.66 0.051 35.8 16.3 21000 6.54 451 0.0114 1.30 44.2

Le Martre 2 28800 7.55 0.141 78.4 31.9 41100 12.1 688 0.0191 2.24 98.7

1

3 2

4

5 6

7 8

9 10

11

12 13

1 2

What is a Baseline?

• Need something to compare contemporary data to. • There is an absence of long term records.

• What was the environment like before mining and climate change?

• Need to separate the natural variations from industrial activities.

• Mining began in 1933, therefor our baseline is pre-1933

Paleolimnology – Lake History Sediment Cores

• Establish long-term records of environmental history from the watershed.

• Sediment material comes into the lake from the land, from streams and from the air, accumulating over time.

Tondu 2012

Youngest

Oldest

Metals

Sediment Cores • Sediment cores have been collected from 8 lakes

throughout the Marian Watershed in 2015 and 2016.

Initial Sediment Core Results Nico Lake

• Located beside the NICO deposit.

• Naturally high in metals.

• Very little stream inflow.

• Higher elevation. • 2 Sediment Cores

~1498 – 2015 • ~500+ year

record

Canada Confederation

~1498

Chief Monfwi Signs Treaty 11

1867

1921

1967

2003, Signing of the Tlicho Agreement

1763 Royal Proclamation

2015

~1700

~1600

Nico Lake Metals Baselines Established, 1878-2015

• Metals concentrations are normalized to lithium to distinguishing natural sources from pollution.

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

25.0 45.0 65.0

ug/g

Sediment Chromium Concentration ug/g

Cr

Pre-1933Baseline

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

0 1 2 3

Sediment Chromium Normalized to Lithium

Cr/Li

Pre-1933Baseline

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0

ug/g

Sediment Copper Concentration ug/g

Cu

Pre-1933Baseline

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5

Sediment Copper Normalized to Li

Cu/Li

Pre-1933Baseline

Sediment Cores: Initial Metals Results from Nico Lake

• Major increase at 1948

corresponding to Giant Mine operation ~185km SE

• Decrease in early 60s with pollution controls.

• Potential for metals pollution runoff from the surrounding land.

• Major decline late 90s early 2000’s corresponding to end of Giant, Con mines. 1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

0 50 100 150 200

ug/g

Sediment Arsenic Concentration ug/g

As

Pre-1933Baseline112ug/g

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2 4 6

Arsenic Normalized to Lithium

As/Li

As/LiBasline

100+ Years of Monitoring Data

0.8

0.9

1

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

COV

Enric

hmen

t Fac

tor

Date

Temporal Trends in Normalized Arsenic to Statistical Baseline

Pre-1933 Baseline

Pollution (COV)

Lower COV

Normalized Arsenic Value

Powerful tool for continued monitoring.

Conclusion • Paleolimnological methods provide means to establish

metals concentrations baselines. • Identifies evidence of arsenic pollution during latter half of 20th

century.

Next Steps • Establish metals concentrations baselines for Shoti or

Marian Lake to compare to contemporary sediment data for use in monitoring downstream locations.

• Continue with geochemical and biological analysis to assess the influence of climate change on recent observations of lake levels.

• Incorporate results to Tłıcho Government monitoring initiatives.

Masi Cho!

1872

1882

1892

1902

1912

1922

1932

1942

1952

1962

1972

1982

1992

2002

2012

0 500 1000 1500

Year

(CRS

Mod

el)

Sediment Fe Normalized to Li and Al

Fe/Li

Pres 33 Baseline

1872

1882

1892

1902

1912

1922

1932

1942

1952

1962

1972

1982

1992

2002

2012

4 10004 20004 30004 40004

Year

(CRS

Mod

el)

ug/g

Sediment Fe Concentration ug/g

Fe

Pre 1933Baseline

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.020.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00

OM

Nico C1

Nico C2

• Surface sediment from M!to M13

R² = 0.8522

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

As to Li