Source partitioning of metal contaminants using isotope ratios

痕量金属对水产资源的污染是加拿大以资源为基础的经济的后果。因此，行业和政府都在继续寻找将这些排放的数量和影响降至最低的方法。然而，一旦释放到环境中，就很难确定来自各种来源的污染量。这导致了监管方面的困难和关于适当缓解手段的争议，特别是在将根据来源使用不同策略的情况下。这个项目旨在克服其中的一些限制。我们将研究几个生态系统中稳定同位素比率的变化，并将它们与来源的差异联系起来。我们还将研究同位素比率变化的其他来源，主要是生物来源。有必要了解生物变化的来源，以便能够根据在水生系统中测量的同位素比确定金属的来源。我们预计，这一项目将成为开发基于测量同位素比变化的来源划分预测方法的起点。

Contamination of aquatic resources by trace metals is a consequence of Canada's resource-based economy.  Both industry and government continue to seek ways to minimize the quantity and impact of these releases.  However, once released to the environment it becomes difficult to ascertain the amount of contamination coming from various sources. This leads to regulatory difficulties and disputes about the appropriate means of mitigation, particularly where a different strategy would be used, depending on the source.  This project is designed to overcome some of these limitations. We will examine the variations in stable isotope ratios in several ecosystems and relate them to differences in sources. We will also examine othersources of variation in isotope ratios, primarily biological in origin. It will be necessary to understand the biological sources of variation to permit determination of sources of metals on the basis of isotope ratios measured in aquatic systems.  We anticipate that this project will be the starting point in the development of predictive methods for source partitioning based on measurement of variations in isotope ratios.