Isotope tracing of water yields and flow pathways for critical loadings assessment in the oil sands region

阿尔伯塔东北部的北方森林地区预计将受到油砂沥青精炼作业产生的酸沉降的影响。为了尽量减少对自然环境的影响，促使该行业与监管机构合作，考虑未来的战略，如改进排放控制。更好地了解目前和未来的酸敏感性的自然环境被认为是必要的设计适当的成本效益的预防战略。这项研究的中心同位素和地球化学示踪剂方法的开发和应用，结合经典的水文方法，遥感和地理信息系统技术，以限制过程/相互作用，控制土壤和下游水生生态系统的酸敏感性。这项研究将改进现有的酸负荷估计、湖泊和湿地中酸负荷的变化以及对维持生态系统健康至关重要的未来关键阈值的了解。水文流动路径、地表水/地下水相互作用和湖泊冲刷率的知识将用于提高目前正在开发的模型（例如，集水区地下水酸化模型，MAGIC）的真实性，以模拟该地区临界负荷的影响时间。

Areas of the boreal forest in northeastern Alberta are expected to be affected by acid deposition from the oil sands bitumen refining operations. Concern to minimize the impacts to the natural environment has prompted the industry, in cooperation with regulators, to consider future strategies such as improved emission controls. A better understanding of present and future acid sensitivity of the natural environment is acknowledged as necessary to design of appropriate cost-effective prevention strategies. This study centres on development and application of isotopic and geochemical tracers methods, in combination with classical hydrologic methods, remote sensing and GIS techniques, to constrain processes/interactions that control acid sensitivity of soils and downstream aquatic ecosystems. The study will improve on existing estimates of acid loadings, their variability in lakes and wetlands, and knowledge of critical future thresholds that are important to maintain ecosystem health. Knowledge of hydrologic flowpaths, surface/groundwater interaction, and flushing rates for lakes will be used to improve realism of models concurrently under development (e.g. Model of Acidification of Groundwater in Catchments, MAGIC) to simulate time-to-effects of critical loadings in the region.