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Growth responses of 20 boreal forest species to oil sandsnon-segregating tailings: significance for reclamation
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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Oil sands mining in northeastern Alberta, Canada, generates tailings containing sand, silt, clay, water, and residual bitumenwith hydrocarbons. The impact of tailings on revegetation is a major environmental concern and poses a significant land rec-lamation challenge. Oil sands companies have recently developed technologies that use thickeners in combination with carbondioxide to produce non-segregating tailings (NST), to accelerate the consolidation of tailings while sequestering greenhousegases. Effects of these tailings on plant re-establishment have yet to be determined. We investigated the impact of NST on bio-mass and physiology of 20 boreal woody plant species grown in environmentally controlled growth rooms. The seedlings weregrown for 8 weeks in NST capped with boreal forest topsoil or peat-mineral soil mix or petroleum coke in 50-cm-long polyvinylchloride pipes. We found that the biomass of balsamfir, beaked hazelnut, blueberry, green alder, Labrador tea, lowbush cran-berry, paper birch, and raspberry was severely reduced by NST, while the effects on balsam poplar, Bebb’s willow, choke-cherry, dogwood, saskatoon, and white spruce were relatively weak. This was also the case for jack pine, which showed poorsurvival in NST. The negative impact of NST on plants can be largely explained by elevated sodium and decreased foliar nutri-ent concentrations. The impact of NST capping with petroleum coke on plant growth was non-significant. Differences amongspecies in their survival and biomass responses to NST appeared to be partly a reflection of their natural habitats. Findingsfrom this study can help guide revegetation oil sands reclamation strategies.
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- Date created
- 2023-01-24
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- Type of Item
- Article (Published)