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Sources and chronology of fifteen elements in the sediments of lakes affected by metal deposition in a mining area

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Abstract

Sources and chronologies of metal contamination were studied in sediment cores of three lakes of the Rouyn-Noranda mining area (Québec, Canada) affected by atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic contaminants. One of the three lakes also received acid mine drainage. The sediments were dated using 210Pb and 137Cs and analysed for stable Pb isotope ratios and for total concentrations of 15 elements (Ag, Al, Au, Ca, Cu, Cd, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, S, Ti, Zn). Stable lead isotopic signatures helped to determine the quantitative contributions of different industrial Pb sources to our sampling sites. This source apportionment showed the dominant influence of the Rouyn-Noranda copper smelter in airborne Pb emissions for the decades following 1926, when industrialization began in the region. The smelter source had a low ratio of 206Pb/207Pb ranging between 0.90 and 1.05, as typical of the Abitibi Archean sulphides. The relationships between element (metal) sedimentary fluxes and anthropogenic Pb fluxes allowed us to infer the origin of the anthropogenic source. These relationships strongly suggest that the copper smelter was (and may still be) an atmospheric source of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag and Hg to the surrounding lakes. Our study indicates that the efforts made by the Rouyn-Noranda copper smelter to reduce airborne emissions of metals have been translated in reduced atmospheric metal loadings to the surrounding lakes.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the support obtained from the laboratories of P.G.C. Campbell (INRS-ETE, Quebec City) and B. Pinel-Alloul (Dept. des sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal). We thank O. Perceval, I. Louis and A. van den Abeele for their help in the field, and M. Geoffroy-Bordeleau for her technical assistance in the laboratory. This study was funded by a grant from the Programme d’aide à la recherche et au développement en environnement to A. Cattaneo (PARDE, Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs du Québec; project title: Développement d’outils in situ d’écotoxicologie diagnostique en regard de la pollution métallique; YC as co-investigator). This manuscript benefited from the comments of two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Existing Substances Division, Science and Risk Assessment Directorate, Environment Canada, Place Vincent Massey, 351 St. Joseph Blvd, 20th floor, Gatineau, QC, Canada, K1A 0H3

    Yves Couillard

  2. Département de sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3C 3J7

    Antonella Cattaneo

  3. Environmental Toxicology, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Céline Gallon

  4. INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, 531 boul. des Prairies, Laval, QC, Canada, H7V 1B7

    Michel Courcelles

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  1. Yves Couillard
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  2. Antonella Cattaneo
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  4. Michel Courcelles
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Correspondence to Yves Couillard.

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Couillard, Y., Cattaneo, A., Gallon, C. et al. Sources and chronology of fifteen elements in the sediments of lakes affected by metal deposition in a mining area. J Paleolimnol 40, 97–114 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9146-6

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