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Theme 14

Human Activities: Environmental Impact and Consequences

Bridget Bergquist, Toronto,
Grant Ferris, Toronto,

Co-hosted sessions

SESSIONS

14a. Environmental impacts of shale gas production and methane emissions

Co-convenors:
Bob Howarth (Cornell University) - howarthcornell.edu
Rob Jackson (Duke University) - jacksonduke.edu

This session will address the environmental consequences of shale gas exploration and production, including both water quality and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the role of methane in global warming. Topics covered in this session will be related but not limited to: an resource size of shale gas, the technologies of high-volume hydraulic fracturing combined with precision horizontal drilling that make shale gas production possible and its environmental effects, water quality, methane and the greenhouse gas inventory, methane and the greenhouse gas footprint of shale gas, the potential to release methane hydrates and clathrates from global warming, global warming potential of methane compared to carbon dioxide, and new approaches for measuring methane fluxes from natural and human-dominated systems and landscapes.

Keynote speaker:
David Hughes (Global Sustainability Research, Canada), davehughesxplornet.com

14b. Reciprocal interactions between archaeology and archaeometry focusing on the characterization of ancient human settlements and their environmental impacts

(co-hosted by Themes 14 and 17)

Co-convenors:
Alain Veron (CEREGE-Aix en Provence) - veroncerege.fr
Adrian L. Burke (Université de Montréal) - adrian.burkeumontreal.ca
Jean-Philippe Goiran (Université de Lyon) - jean-philippe.goiranmom.fr
Frédéric Trément (Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand) - frederic.trementwanadoo.fr

This session aims to promote interactions between archaeology and archaeometry to resolve questions related to the development of ancient human activities. Paleo-ecological, geochemical and sedimentological data (pollen, biocœnosis, stable and radiogenic isotopes, geomorphology and stratigraphy) will be presented within well-defined archaeological or geographic research questions that substantiate the need and usefulness of archaeometry. We place an emphasis on interdisciplinary research related but not limited to the characterization and growth of i) Neolithic and Early Bronze age settlements in the Mediterranean basin and late prehistoric settlements (Woodland, Mississippian, Post-Archaic) in the Americas, ii) prehistoric mining activities and their environmental impacts and iii) possible connections between socio-cultural theories and science-based archaeology within the context of mining activities. We also wish to draw special attention to investigations related to i) Native/Aboriginal settlements and associated industrial remains of organized craft production and metallurgy in the Americas, ii) the founding of ancient Mediterranean harbors, and iii) Western European mining activities during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages.

Keynote speaker:
Joaquin Ruiz (University of Arizona – Tucson),

14c. Evolution of the ubiquitous presence of mercury in the environment of the Anthropocene

Co-Convenors:
Xinbin Feng (Chinese Academy of Sciences-Guizhou) - fengxinbinvip.skleg.cn
Marc Lucotte (GEOTOP-UQAM) - lucotte.marc_micheluqam.ca
Throjron Larssen (Norwegian Water Research Institute) - thorjorn.larssenniva.no

Mercury is recognized as a global pollutant and consequently a worldwide health issue of the 21st century. Several measures have been taken worldwide for decades to alleviate the problem. It is not clear yet whether these measures have improved the situation. In this special session, we wish to address the relative impact of multiple anthropogenic activities, ranging from gold extraction in China thousands of years ago, to wine preservation by the Romans 2000 years ago, to mining by the Spanish conquistadores in Peru in the XVIIth century to coal burning worldwide today to the local and global presence of mercury concentrations in the environment. We envisage to draw a historical perspective of human exposure to the contaminant, either through occupational activities, nutritional habits or passive exposure in polluted areas. From this combined biogeochemical and human-exposure lesson from the past, a portrait of today’s hot spots of environmental sensitivity and human vulnerability to the heavy metal will be drawn.

Keynote speakers:
Laurie Chan (University of Ottawa), laurie.chanuottawa.ca
Colin A. Cooke (Yale University), colin.cookeyale.edu

14d. Geochemical influences on Hg bioavailability and biogeochemical transformations

Co-convenors:
Dwayne Elias (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN) - eliasdaornl.gov
Remy Guyoneaud (Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, France) - remy.guyoneauduniv-pau.fr
Paul Bayer (U.S. Department of Energy, DC) - paul.bayerscience.doe.gov

This session will focus on the geochemical forms and compounds that bind Hg in the environment, their relative bioavailability for biochemical transformations (reduction, oxidation, methylation or demethylation), and what effect speciation and bioavailability can have on Hg fate, transport, biomagnification and finally ecosystem health.

Much is known about factors influencing Hg(II) speciation including pH, sulfur species and concentration, type and hydrophobicity of complex ligands including natural/anthropogenic and dissolved/particulate organic matter. Integrated approaches combining molecular-scale genomics, biochemistry and field studies are advancing our understanding of the major roles for microorganisms in Hg cycling. This includes the major Hg species available in a system and their mobility and transformation to end-products such as biological methylation or reduction of Hg(II) in aquatic and sedimentary environments. Nevertheless, critical factors linking the influence of different types, sizes, hydrophobicity, strength and age of Hg complexes on the ability, rate and modes of biotransformation as well as the proportion of total Hg that is bioavailable to cross biological membranes remain a mystery. This session will focus on these critical factors since elucidating these linkages is likely the only way to truly understand the methylation and biomagnification potential in Hg contaminated and pristine ecosystems.

Keynote speaker:
Cindy Gilmour (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, U.S.A.), gilmourcsi.edu

14e. New developments in understanding natural and anthropogenic water contaminants in the Athabasca oil sands region

Co-convenors:
Martine M. Savard (Geological Survey of Canada-Quebec City) - msavardnrcan.gc.ca
Jean Birks (Alberta Innovates / University of Waterloo) - Jean.Birksalbertainnovates.ca

The oil sands deposits in northern Alberta are the world’s second largest oil reserves and have become the focus of intense development and environmental concern. The mining, extraction and upgrading of bitumen may have direct impacts on surface and groundwater quality due to migration of oil-sands process water (OSPW), dissolution and mobilization of metals from aquifer materials in the vicinity of steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), or atmospheric emissions of metals and organic pollutants from various point and non-point sources. Clearly identifying the potential anthropogenic impacts is a challenge because aquifers and surface water bodies are often in direct contact with natural sources of salinity and hydrocarbons. Moreover, a wide variety of complex hydrogeochemical processes contribute to the cumulative impacts of industrial developments on surface and groundwater quality. There is therefore a need for rigorous scientific input to help inform environmental management.

This session invites presentations related to impacts of oil sands development on water quality in the Athabasca Region including research related to: the fate and transport of OSPW and their related contaminants, analytical advances in characterizing natural and anthropogenic sources of metals, salinity and organics, archives of water quality across the region, water quality in reclaimed landscapes, and impacts of surface mining and SAGD on regional water quality.

14f. Biogeochemical mechanisms associated with oil sands processing, reclamation and storage

Co-convenors:
Christopher Weisener (University of Windsor) - weisener@windsor.ca
Lesley Warren (McMaster University) - warrenlmcmaster.ca
Katrin Wendt-Potthoff (Helmholtz Institute, Germany) - katrin.wendt-potthoffufz.de

Establishing the microbial and geochemical mechanisms associated with oil sands processing and rehabilitation is an emerging area of mining related geomicrobiology. This session focuses on research addressing the need to understand the fundamental microbial and geochemical processes controlling microbiological corrosion, redox gradients and degradation pathways in the complex aqueous and terrestrial systems associated with oil sands mining. This session solicits contributions that address the role(s) of microbes in Fe, S, and N cycling within tailings, oil sands waste evolution and characterization, microbiological corrosion mechanisms, detoxification, biotechnical reclamation and water treatment, and influence on wetlands development associated with reclamation.

Co-hosted sessions:

Please note that for abstract submission purposes, the following sessions and their respective descriptions appear in their primary Theme assignments (numbers in red or before the title).

8c.- Structural incorporation of heavy metals/radionuclides into mineral phases in aqueous environment

Co-convenors: Thorsten Stumpf/ KIT Institute, Germany and Thomas Neumann/ KIT Institute, Germany.
(co-hosted by Themes 8 and 14).

8e.-Towards the fundamentals of nanoparticle interactions with the living world: a life cycle perspective.

Co-convenors: Armand Masion/CEREGE and Frank von der Kammer/Vienna
(co-hosted by Themes 8 and 14)

9b.- Geochemistry of petroleum, coal combustion and gasification products

Co-convenors: James C. Hower/Kentucky, Hamed Sanei/GSC, Owen Duckworth/NCState, Dean Hesterberg/NCState and Mark Chappell/Army Corps of Engineers
(co-hosted by Themes 9 and 14)

9g.- Water-rock-microbial interactions in energy systems

Co-convenors: Jennifer McIntosh/University of Arizona, David Vinson/University of Arizona and Ben Cowie/University of Calgary
(co-hosted by Themes 9 and 14)

20b.- Geochemistry and human health effects of atmospheric particulate matter

Co-convenors: Allan Kolker/USGS and Geoff Plumlee/USGS
(co-hosted by Themes 20, 11 and 14)

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