The symbiotic relationship of sediment and biofilm dynamics at the sediment water interface of oil sands industrial tailings ponds

Reid, Thomas; VanMensel, Danielle; Droppo, Ian G.; Weisener, Christopher G.

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.025

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The sediment erosion dynamics for all collected cores were determined using the UMCES-Gust Erosion Microcosm System (U-GEMS). Figure 4 provides a visual representation of the device, but the reader should refer to Reid et al (2016) for a more complete description of the system operation. The U-GEMS system measures the erodibility of two (11 cm diameter) sediment cores simultaneously, using a range of shear stresses from 0.005 Pa to 0.5 Pa. A uniform shear stress is applied to the entire sediment surface via a rotating erosion head at the water surface.…”

Section: Bed Sediment Erodibility Assessment (U-gems)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of erosion and settling properties of fine sediments stored in cobble bed rivers: the Arc and Isère alpine rivers before and after reservoir flushing

Legoût

Droppo

Coutaz

et al. 2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Cohesive sediment dynamics in mountainous rivers is poorly understood even though these rivers are the main providers of fine particles to the oceans. Complex interactions exist between the coarse matrix of cobble bed rivers and fine sediments. Given that fine sediment load in such environments can be very high due to intense natural rainfall or snowmelt events and to man‐induced reservoir or dam flushing, a better understanding of the deposition and sedimentation processes is needed in order to reduce ecohydrological downstream impacts. We tested a field‐based approach on the Arc and Isère alpine rivers combining measurements of erosion and settling properties of river bed deposits before and after a dam flushing, with the U‐GEMS (Gust Erosion Microcosm System) and SCAF (System Characterizing Aggregates and Flocs), respectively. These measurements highlight that critical shears, rates of erosion, settling velocities and propensity of particles to flocculate are highly variable in time and space. This is reflective of the heterogeneity of the hydrodynamic conditions during particle settling, local bed roughness, and nature and size of particles. Generally the deposits were found to be stable relative to what is measured in lowland rivers. It was, however, not possible to make a conclusive assessment of the extent to which the dynamics of deposits after reservoir flushing were different from those settled after natural events. The absence of any relationships between erosion and deposition variables, making it impossible to predict one from another, underlined the need to measure all of them to have a full assessment of the fine sediment dynamics and to obtain representative input variables for numerical models. While the SCAF was found to be effective, an alternative to the U‐GEMS device will have to be found for the erodibility assessment in cobble bed rivers, in order to make more rapid measurements at higher shears. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Bed Sediment Erodibility Assessment (U-gems)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of erosion and settling properties of fine sediments stored in cobble bed rivers: the Arc and Isère alpine rivers before and after reservoir flushing

Legoût

Droppo

Coutaz

et al. 2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…Biofilms formed on the EPL mudline (the FFT–water interface) have been proposed as a novel solution for mitigating turbidity in the long term. Biofilms have been found to have a stabilization effect, referred to as biostabilization, whereby they reduce the ability of sediments to resuspend and of contaminants to re-mobilize from a sediment–water interface in comparison to purely mineral sediments [ 14 , 15 ]. Biostabilization has been shown to significantly increase the energy required to erode sediments, thereby reducing turbidity in the overlying water [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biostabilization has been shown to significantly increase the energy required to erode sediments, thereby reducing turbidity in the overlying water [ 15 , 16 ]. These effects are thought to be due to the secretion of gel-like extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), made up of lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids, which attach microbial cells to particle surfaces [ 14 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. EPS are hydrated, which causes them to swell on exudation and fill pore spaces [ 19 , 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stabilizing biofilms often consist of multiple layers of multispecies communities, which may include diatoms, green algae, photoautotrophic cyanobacteria, and other phototrophic and heterotrophic bacteria [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 22 ]. Though consolidation and electrochemical interactions are thought to also affect the stabilization of bed sediments [ 23 , 24 ], there is a consensus that the secretion of EPS by microorganisms is the primary reason for the stabilization effects [ 14 , 19 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biofilms for Turbidity Mitigation in Oil Sands End Pit Lakes

et al. 2021

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End pit lakes (EPLs) have been proposed as a method of reclaiming oil sands fluid fine tailings (FFT), which consist primarily of process-affected water and clay- and silt-sized particles. Base Mine Lake (BML) is the first full-scale demonstration EPL and contains thick deposits of FFT capped with water. Because of the fine-grained nature of FFT, turbidity generation and mitigation in BML are issues that may be detrimental to the development of an aquatic ecosystem in the water cap. Laboratory mixing experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of mudline biofilms made up of microbial communities indigenous to FFT on mitigating turbidity in EPLs. Four mixing speeds were tested (80, 120, 160, and 200 rpm), all of which are above the threshold velocity required to initiate erosion of FFT in BML. These mixing speeds were selected to evaluate (i) the effectiveness of biofilms in mitigating turbidity and (ii) the mixing speed required to ‘break’ the biofilms. The impact of biofilm age (10 weeks versus 20 weeks old) on turbidity mitigation was also evaluated. Diverse microbial communities in the biofilms included photoautotrophs, namely cyanobacteria and Chlorophyta (green algae), as well as a number of heterotrophs such as Gammaproteobacteria, Desulfobulbia, and Anaerolineae. Biofilms reduced surface water turbidity by up to 99%, depending on the biofilm age and mixing speed. Lifting and layering in the older biofilms resulted in weaker attachment to the FFT; as such, younger biofilms performed better than older biofilms. However, older biofilms still reduced turbidity by 69% to 95%, depending on the mixing speed. These results indicate that biostabilization is a promising mechanism for turbidity mitigation in EPLs.

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“…aid in identifying which microbes are present in any type of environmental sample, while RNA sequencing allows for the determination of the metabolic activity of the microbial consortia. Countless studies have combined other imaging techniques such as SEM and TEM with molecular tools; Reid et al observed how biofilms act to inhibit resuspension of sediments in mining tailings ponds; Diloreto et al characterized the microbial communities as they sequestered metals in a novel AMD bioreactor . Here, the use of SEM allowed for the visualization of the biofilms and microbial communities; however, applying novel MSI techniques would have enhanced their ability to characterize the complex microbe‐mineral dynamics in those systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combined imaging and molecular techniques for evaluating microbial function and composition: A review

Weisener

Reid

2017

Surface & Interface Analysis

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In most cases, microbial function will determine the direction and onset of specific metabolic pathways as defined by their favorable thermodynamic outcome. Thus, the degree of chemical alteration in contact with minerals and bacteria can be directly proportional to the biological activity. This activity can influence redox conditions both from a localized perspective and global scale. Under these conditions, microscale mechanisms become important, impacting both molecular diffusion and the distribution of substrates and products. Visualizing microorganisms in their natural environments is no simple task and requires analytical tools that can measure cell function and chemical speciation at the sub-micrometer level. In the last decade, the scientific community has observed a rapid increase in development of advanced imaging methods (eg, high-resolution secondary mass spectrometry [NanoSIMS]) and synchrotron-based approaches such as scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM). Coupled to culture-independent techniques (eg, next generation sequencing technologies), these combined approaches excel at exploring microbial/mineral and sediment dynamics leading to valuable insight into both structure and function of single cells and diverse microbial communities in engineered and natural environments. This review focuses on recent advances in high-resolution imaging and molecular-based tools used to characterize microbial communities and function within natural systems. Copyright

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The symbiotic relationship of sediment and biofilm dynamics at the sediment water interface of oil sands industrial tailings ponds

Cited by 11 publications

References 27 publications

Assessment of erosion and settling properties of fine sediments stored in cobble bed rivers: the Arc and Isère alpine rivers before and after reservoir flushing

Assessment of erosion and settling properties of fine sediments stored in cobble bed rivers: the Arc and Isère alpine rivers before and after reservoir flushing

Biofilms for Turbidity Mitigation in Oil Sands End Pit Lakes

Combined imaging and molecular techniques for evaluating microbial function and composition: A review

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