Characterization of organic composition in snow and surface waters in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, using ultrahigh resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry.
This study was conducted to characterize the composition of dissolved organic compounds present in snow and surface waters in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) with the goal of identifying whether atmospherically-derived organic compounds present in snow are a significant contributor to the compounds detected in surface waters (i.e., rivers and lakes). We used electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR MS) to characterize the dissolved organic compound compositions of snow and surface water samples. The organic profiles obtained for the snow samples show compositional differences between samples from near-field sites (<5 km from oil sands activities) and those from more distant locations (i.e., far-field sites). There are also significant compositional differences between samples collected in near-field sites and surface water samples in the AOSR. The composition of dissolved organic compounds at the upstream Athabasca River site (i.e., Athabasca River at Athabasca) is found to be different from samples obtained from downstream sites in the vicinity of oil sands operations (i.e., Athabasca River at Fort McMurray and Athabasca River at Firebag confluence). The upstream Athabasca River sites tended to share some compositional similarities with far-field snow deposition, while the downstream Athabasca River sites are more similar to local lakes and tributaries. This contrast likely indicates the relative role of regional snowmelt contributions to the Athabasca River vs inputs from local catchments in the reach downstream of Fort McMurray.
Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: yiyi@uvic.ca.
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Yi
Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
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Birks
Clean Energy Branch, Policy Division, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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Cho
Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
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Gibson
D000416:Alberta; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012914:Snow / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Athabasca Oil Sands Region; Dissolved organic composition; ESI-FTICR MS; Snow; Surface water