Mercury Biogeochemistry and Hydrology in the Central Hudson Bay Lowlands
THURSDAY MAY 16, 2013 - 2:30 PM IN EIT 3142 AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Since 2007, a multidisciplinary team has been studying the natural hydrology and biogeochemistry of the peatlands in the central Hudson Bay Lowland in order to understand the controls on mercury fate and transport, as well as the potential impacts of an open pit mine on water quality. Some of the outcomes of this collaborative research effort will be presented, making connections among the peatland landscape, surface waters and mercury in fish in the Attiwapiskat River watershed. Data will be presented on the role the peatlands in the fate and transport of mercury in the environment, variability of mercury over space and time in a range of streams and rivers, and the use of small-bodied fish as integrators of mercury loading and environmental change. Some of our findings include the discovery of the importance of groundwater to streamflow in the central HBL (up to 40 percent), the very high degree of variability in water and ( methyl)mercury fluxes interannually (4-5x differences among years) and the spatial variability in both sites of methylation and mercury bioaccumulation in the aquatic ecosystem. The broader implications of the findings in the context of a rapidly changing northern climate will be explored.