Conly F M, Crosley R W, Headley J V, Quagraine E K
Environment Canada, National Hydrology Research Centre, Saskatoon, Canada.
J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 2007 Jul;42(8):1021-8. doi: 10.1080/10934520701418433.
Several oil sands mines and refineries are currently recovering oil from the Athabasca River region near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Planning and construction of additional oil sands mines are in various stages of completion. Due to environmental concerns for aquatic life in areas downstream from current and future oil sands activities, surveys were conducted between 1998 and 2000 to determine whether the quality of water and sediments in tributaries of the Athabasca River are affected by flowing through reaches with exposure to natural oil sand deposits. This paper presents the results for metals in bed and suspended sediments collected from the Mackay, Steepbank, and Ells rivers during those surveys. The suspended sediments had a clay content (n = 7) ranging from 36.2% to 65.0%, while bed sediments, which consisted of a predominant sand fraction, had percent clay (n = 39) ranging from 0.0% to 38.1%. A Mann-Kendall non-parametric analysis to assess the longitudinal trend of the metals in the bed sediments found no significant (alpha = 0.05) downstream trend in the Mackay or Steepbank rivers; however, the Ells River displayed a generally decreasing tend from upstream to downstream. The results provide no indication that metal concentrations in the bed sediments and/or suspended sediments of the Mackay, Steepbank, and Ells rivers increase significantly as the three tributaries flow through reaches that have natural oil sand exposures (McMurray Formation).
目前，艾伯塔省麦克默里堡附近的阿萨巴斯卡河地区有几座油砂矿和炼油厂正在开采石油。更多油砂矿的规划和建设正处于不同的完工阶段。由于担心当前和未来油砂活动下游地区的水生生物受到环境影响，1998年至2000年期间进行了调查，以确定阿萨巴斯卡河支流的水质和沉积物质量是否会因流经暴露于天然油砂矿床的河段而受到影响。本文介绍了在这些调查期间从麦凯河、陡坡河和埃尔斯河采集的河床沉积物和悬浮沉积物中的金属含量结果。悬浮沉积物的粘土含量（n = 7）在36.2%至65.0%之间，而以砂粒为主的河床沉积物的粘土百分比（n = 39）在0.0%至38.1%之间。一项用于评估河床沉积物中金属纵向趋势的曼-肯德尔非参数分析发现，麦凯河或陡坡河中没有显著的（α = 0.05）下游趋势；然而，埃尔斯河从上游到下游总体呈下降趋势。结果表明，随着这三条支流流经有天然油砂暴露的河段（麦克默里地层），麦凯河、陡坡河和埃尔斯河的河床沉积物和/或悬浮沉积物中的金属浓度没有显著增加。
