Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2022

Abstract

Study region: The 140,329 km(2 )Athabasca Oil Sands Administrative Area (OSAA), which contains 8982 km(2) of bogs. Since the late 1970s, N emissions from oil sands development in the OSAA have steadily increased, reaching over 80,000 metric tonnes yr(-1) in 2017.& nbsp;Study focus: If oil sands N emissions have distinct stable isotopic signatures, it may be possible to quantify the extent to which these emissions have affected N cycling in surrounding aquatic, wetland, and terrestrial ecosystems. To assess the potential for 15N as a tracer of oil sands N emissions, we measured natural abundance 15N ratios and tissue N concentrations in 10 plant or lichen species at 6 peatland sites at different distances from the oil sands region, collected on 17 sampling dates over three years (2009-2011).& nbsp;New hydrological insights: To understand how the pressures of changing N and S deposition regimes and hydrologic disturbance interactively affect the region's wetlands, it is critical to understand how these pressures act individually. The epiphytic lichen, Evernia mesomorpha, was the only species that exhibited patterns that could be interpreted as being influenced by oil sands N emissions. The paucity of data on delta N-15 signatures of oil sands related N sources precludes definitive interpretations of delta N-15 in plant or lichen tissues with respect to oil sands N emissions.

Publication Title

Journal of Hydrology - Regional Studies

ISSN

2214-5818

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

40

Issue

101030

First Page

1

Last Page

9

DOI

10.1016/j.ejrh.2022.101030

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