Long-term precipitation-driven salinity change in a saline, peat-forming wetland in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Canada: a diatom-based paleolimnological study

Volik, Olena; Petrone, Richard M.; Hall, Roland I.; Macrae, Merrin L.; Wells, Corey M.; Elmes, Matthew C.; Price, Jonathan S.

doi:10.1007/s10933-017-9989-4

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…From a hydrologic perspective, fens are geogenous ecosystems that receive nutrients from upland sources (i.e., via overland flow), groundwater, and atmospheric sources (Soudzilovskaia et al, ; Vitt, Wieder, Scott, & Faller, ). Although the subject is debated, based on vegetation indicators, four types of fen generally are recognized: poor, moderate‐rich, extreme‐rich, and saline, with moderate‐rich fens (MRFs) being the most common in the AOSR (Graham, Hartsock, Vitt, Wieder, & Gibson, ; Locky & Bayley, ; Purdy, MacDonald, & Lieffers, ; Slack, Vitt, & Horton, ; Vitt, Achuff, & Andrus, ; Vitt & Chee, ; Volik et al, ). In short, poor fens (PFs) are acidic systems dominated at a ground layer by mosses in the genus Sphagnum , MRFs have neutral porewaters and exhibit greater plant species richness compared with PFs, extreme‐rich fens have alkaline porewaters with elevated EC near 300 μS/cm, and SFs have porewaters dominated by the cation sodium and EC levels ranging from 2,000 to 30,000 μS/cm.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient supply patterns across the Sandhill Fen reclamation watershed and regional reference fens in Alberta, Canada: An ion exchange membrane study

Hartsock

Bremer²,

Vitt

2020

Ecohydrology

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Using Plant Root Simulator (PRS®) probes, we evaluate nutrient supply rates at the Sandhill Fen reclamation watershed across a gradient of increasing water table position and compare observations with three reference fens (a poor, moderate‐rich, and saline fen). Our objectives were threefold: (a) determine the behavior of PRS probes across multiple peatland classes, (b) determine which type of peatland Sandhill Fen is most analogous to in terms of nutrient supply patterns and site chemistry, and (c) attempt to provide a repeatable approach for assessing nutrient supply in peatlands. In terms of porewater chemistry, conditions at Sandhill Fen were quite unique, yet, most comparable to the saline fen. Consistent with porewater analysis, PRS probes had low nitrate supply at all sites, high calcium and magnesium supply at all sites (except the poor fen), and much higher sulfur supply at Sandhill Fen. Site differences in PRS probe measurements were smaller for 20‐ than 2‐day burial periods due to displacement of less strongly held elements (e.g., potassium) on ion exchange membranes. Because long‐term incubations may underrepresent supply rates for weakly held ions due to displacement by divalent ions, we recommend that reclamation assessments over a wide range of fen types should use a relatively short burial period of 1 to 3 days. With few exceptions (sulfate and iron), nutrient supply patterns at Sandhill Fen were quite comparable to the reference fens. For future wetland reclamation performance assessments in the AOSR, PRS probes could serve an important role for evaluating belowground functional components.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient supply patterns across the Sandhill Fen reclamation watershed and regional reference fens in Alberta, Canada: An ion exchange membrane study

Hartsock

Bremer²,

Vitt

2020

Ecohydrology

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“…Gignac et al, 2004;Hartsock et al, 2019a;Slack et al, 1980;Vitt & Chee, 1990;Vitt et al, 1995), but lower than in saline fens in northern Alberta (cf. Hartsock et al, 2019b;Volik et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is bog water chemistry affected by increasing N and S deposition from oil sands development in Northern Alberta, Canada?

Wieder

Vile

Scott

et al. 2021

Environ Monit Assess

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Nitrogen and sulfur emissions from oil sands operations in northern Alberta, Canada have resulted in increasing deposition of N and S to the region’s ecosystems. To assess whether a changing N and S deposition regime affects bog porewater chemistry, we sampled bog porewater at sites at different distances from the oil sands industrial center from 2009 to 2012 (10-cm intervals to a depth of 1 m) and from 2009 to 2019 (top of the bog water table only). We hypothesized that: (1) as atmospheric N and S deposition increases with increasing proximity to the oil sands industrial center, surface porewater concentrations of NH4+, NO3−, DON, and SO42− would increase and (2) with increasing N and S deposition, elevated porewater concentrations of NH4+, NO3−, DON, and SO42− would be manifested increasingly deeper into the peat profile. We found weak evidence that oil sands N and S emissions affect bog porewater NH4+-N, NO3−-N, or DON concentrations. We found mixed evidence that increasing SO42− deposition results in increasing porewater SO42− concentrations. Current SO42− deposition, especially at bogs closest to the oil sands industrial center, likely exceeds the ability of the Sphagnum moss layer to retain S through net primary production, such that atmospherically deposited SO42− infiltrates downward into the peat column. Increasing porewater SO42− availability may stimulate dissimilatory sulfate reduction and/or inhibit CH4 production, potentially affecting carbon cycling and gaseous fluxes in these bogs.

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“…The elevation within the fen varies from 397 to 401 masl (Wells & Price, 2015a). Groundwater and surface water are dominated by Na + and Cl − while Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ and SO 4 2− are also present (Volik et al, 2017); electrical conductivity of near-surface groundwater ranges from 19 to >60 mS cm −1 (Wells & Price, 2015b). pH of near-surface groundwater within the fen ranges from 6.5-7.5 (Wells & Price, 2015a Creek watershed, with elevation varying from 560 to 564 masl (Wood et al, 2016).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing season evapotranspiration in boreal fens in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region: Variability and environmental controls

Volik

Kessel

Green

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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Current efforts to assess changes to the wetland hydrology caused by growing anthropogenic pressures in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) require well-founded spatial and temporal estimates of actual evapotranspiration (ET), which is the dominant component of the water budget in this region. This study assessed growing season (May-September) and peak growing season (July) ET variability at a treed moderaterich fen and treed poor fen (in 2013-2018), open poor fen (in 2011-2014), and saline fen (in 2015-2018) using eddy covariance technique and a set of complementary environmental data. Seasonal fluctuations in ET were positively related to net radiation, air temperature and vapour pressure deficit and followed trends typical for the Boreal Plains (BP) and AOSR with highest rates in June-July. However, no strong effect of water table position on ET was found. Strong surface control on ET is evident from lower ET values than potential evapotranspiration (PET); the lowest ET/PET was observed at saline fen, followed by open fen, moderately treed fen, and heavily treed fen, suggesting a strong influence of vegetation on water loss. In most years PET exceeded precipitation (P), and positive relations between P/PET and ET were observed with the highest July ET rates occurring under P/PET 1. However, during months with P/PET > 1, increased P/PET was associated with decreased July ET. With respect to 30-year mean values of air temperature and P in the area, both dry and wet, cool and warm growing seasons (GS) were observed. No clear trends between ET values and GS wetness/coldness were found, but all wet GS were characterized by peak growing seasons with high daily ET variability.

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Long-term precipitation-driven salinity change in a saline, peat-forming wetland in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Canada: a diatom-based paleolimnological study

Cited by 16 publications

References 48 publications

Nutrient supply patterns across the Sandhill Fen reclamation watershed and regional reference fens in Alberta, Canada: An ion exchange membrane study

Nutrient supply patterns across the Sandhill Fen reclamation watershed and regional reference fens in Alberta, Canada: An ion exchange membrane study

Is bog water chemistry affected by increasing N and S deposition from oil sands development in Northern Alberta, Canada?

Growing season evapotranspiration in boreal fens in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region: Variability and environmental controls

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