69 Insights from Microfossils: From Geoarchaeology and Pollution Remediation to Climate and Sea-Level Change (Posters)

Tuesday, 16 March 2010
8:00 AM - 12:05 PM
International ABCDF

MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF OIL SANDS PROCESS-AFFECTED WATER (OSPW) ON THECAMOEBIAN ASSEMBLAGES

Paper number: 69-2
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 12:05 PM

Authors

Abstract

Thecamoebian (testate amoeba) assemblages have been shown to respond over short time periods to environmental conditions in aquatic reclamation options under development at oil sands operations in northeastern Alberta. This research has shown that testate amoebae are a useful bio-monitoring tool for reclamation in the Oil Sands region. Thecamoebian responses to Oil Sands Process Water (OSPW) have been monitored in the field at lacustrine and wetland test sites established by Syncrude Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy Ltd.

In order to better establish testate amoeba as a permanent fixture in the oil sands reclamation project a controlled laboratory experiment is presently underway, in which thecamoebians from a natural aquatic system on site at Syncrude’s Mildred Lake Operation are being cultured and monitored in order to understand their response to different concentrations of OSPW. Survival and changes in relative community composition (difflugiids vs. centropyxids) will be used to establish the dilution of OSPW in which thecameobians can survive and examine how a natural assemblage changes over time in response to increased concentrations of OSPW.