Quantifying the impacts of coupled physical and bio-geochemical processes on metal transport in groundwater

在整个加拿大和全球范围内，地下水资源不断受到工业和其他人类活动的威胁。保护这一资源对人类和生态系统的健康以及经济安全至关重要。加拿大的经济严重依赖资源部门，但这些活动由于其性质和规模对环境产生重大影响。例如，采矿作业，包括矿物和石油资源，产生的废物有可能将污染物，特别是有毒金属，沥滤到环境中。污染物在地下水和土壤中的迁移和归宿往往涉及复杂的生物地球化学反应，以及物理迁移和衰减过程。本研究计划的目标是更好地了解和量化这些耦合的地球化学和物理过程，以确定这种耦合对地下水和地下系统中金属的命运的影响，并评估对缓解和修复策略的影响。这些目标将通过广泛详细的实验室实验和对从大规模实地项目收集的数据进行分析来实现，同时开发和实施数字模型，以了解控制性的物理和地球化学过程。这项拟议中的研究将为污染物如何在大规模工业活动附近移动提供新的见解，特别是金属在矿物和油砂开采地点周围的移动。这些新的见解将帮助行业和政府实施更有效的政策和实践，以更好地保护环境，降低与补救和缓解相关的成本。该研究将为矿山废物管理和工业污染物治理领域的高素质人员提供培训，使他们成为该领域的领导者，并使他们能够继续研究或在工业，政府或加拿大世界领先的环境咨询行业中发挥重要作用。

Throughout Canada and globally groundwater resources are under continuous threat from industry and other anthropogenic activities. The protection of this resource is vital for the health of humans and ecosystems, and economic security. Canada's economy relies heavily on the resource sector, but these activities, due to their nature and scale have significant impact on the environment. For example, mining operations, including mineral and petroleum resources, generate waste products that have potential to leach contaminant, and particularly toxic metals, into the environment. The transport and fate of contaminants in groundwater and in soils often involve complex biogeochemical reactions coupled to physical transport and attenuation processes. The objectives of this research program are to better understand and quantify these coupled biogeochemical and physical processes, to determine the effect of this coupling on the fate of metals in groundwater and subsurface systems, and to evaluate the impact on mitigation and remediation strategies. These objectives will be carried out through extensive detailed laboratory experiments and analysis of data collected from large-scale field projects, coupled with the development and implementation of numerical models to understand the controlling physical and geochemical processes. The proposed research will provide new insights into how contaminants move near largescale industrial activities, particularly the movement of metals around both mineral and oil sands mining sites. These new insights will help industry and government to implement more effective policies and practices to better protect the environment and reduce the cost associated with remediation and mitigation. The research will provide training to highly qualified personnel in the area of mine waste management and industrial contaminant remediation allowing them to become leaders in the field and allowing them to continue research or take up important roles within industry, government or within Canada's world leading environmental consulting industry.