Reconstructing contamination events on riverbanks in southern Québec using dendrochronology and dendrochemical methods

Saint-Laurent, Diane; Duplessis, Patricia; St-Laurent, Julien; Lavoie, Louis

doi:10.1016/j.dendro.2010.08.005

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…and red ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.). For the most part, the stands are young, less than 50 years old, although some individual trees such as ash or maple are more than 80 years old (Saint-Laurent et al 2009a). The rivers under study flow through former industrial and mining areas as well as over agricultural land, which is often the cause of major degradation in water quality (MDDEP 2004).…”

Section: Sampling Sitesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Isotopic Record of Lead Contamination in Alluvial Soils and Tree Rings on Recent Floodplains (Southern Québec, Canada)

Saint-Laurent

St-Laurent

Duplessis

et al. 2009

Water Air Soil Pollut

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Current and past industrial pollution leaves many traces in the environment, in particular along rivers in industrial and urban areas. The isotopic analysis of the lead found in soils and tree rings offers a kind of environmental archive for presenting a portrait of the pollutant distribution in the environment in both spatial and temporal terms. This study is an attempt to identify and compare the source of contamination found in soils and tree rings located along two rivers affected by pollution over several years. Specifically, the focus is on the pattern of lead concentrations and lead isotopic signatures (206Pb/ 207Pb, 208Pb/206Pb, and 206Pb/204Pb) detected in soils and tree rings located on polluted floodplains. The concentration of Pb in overbank sediments does not rise with the increasing distance downstream from the point source (mining area), suggesting that significant fluvial transport of the pollutant particles over 80 km is involved. For the soil profiles, Pb concentration levels range between 12.32 and 149.13 mg/kg, with the highest concentrations found at the base of the profiles (>1 m). For the lead isotope ratios in the soil profiles, the values obtained range from 0.851 to 0.872 (206Pb/207Pb), 2.081 to 2.111 (208Pb/206Pb), and 0.547 to 0.562 (206Pb/204Pb). The tree ring analysis of red ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) shows average lead concentrations of 0.63 μg/g, and the lead values of all the tree specimens range between 0.03 and 11.38 μg/g. Pb concentrations varied greatly between the specimens in selected sites and lead isotope ratios in the tree rings showed a strong variability in the time series, particularly from 1945 to 1970. The greater number of variations in the lead concentration rates and isotopic ratios suggest that many more events associated with pollution and contamination have in fact occurred in this area. The study demonstrates the utility of combining stable isotope analyses (soils and tree rings) to examine the source and dispersion of contaminant Pb in fluvial systems by providing reliable and robust indicators for the detection of environmental changes on a local and regional scale.

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Section: Sampling Sitesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Isotopic Record of Lead Contamination in Alluvial Soils and Tree Rings on Recent Floodplains (Southern Québec, Canada)

Saint-Laurent

St-Laurent

Duplessis

et al. 2009

Water Air Soil Pollut

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“…Dendroanalysis can be used to detect traces of Pb (e.g., Anderson et al 2000;Aznar et al 2008;Bindler et al 2004;Fisher et al 2002;Lageard et al 2008;Saint-Laurent et al 2011) as well as As (e.g., Cheng et al 2007;Galicki et al 2008;Martin et al 2000), Cd (e.g., Schaumloffel et al 1998;Saint-Laurent et al 2011;Watmough and Hutchinson 2003), Cu (e.g., Baltrenas and Vaitkute 2011), Ni (e.g., Punshon et al 2003), and Zn (e.g., Watmough 2002) and is thus well suited for biomonitoring both past and recent contamination. SaintLaurent et al (2011) analyzed the dendrochemistry of red ashes (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dendroanalysis of oak trees as a method of biomonitoring past and recent contamination in an area influenced by uranium mining

Märten

Berger

Köhler

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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We reconstructed the contamination history of an area influenced by 40 years of uranium mining and subsequent remediation actions using dendroanalysis (i.e., the determination of the elemental content of tree rings). The uranium content in the tree rings of four individual oak trees (Quercus sp.) was determined by laser ablation with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). This technique allows the investigation of trace metals in solid samples with a spatial resolution of 250 μm and a detection limit below 0.01 μg/g for uranium. The investigations show that in three of the four oaks sampled, there were temporally similar uranium concentrations. These were approximately 2 orders of magnitude higher (0.15 to 0.4 μg/g) than those from before the period of active mining (concentrations below 0.01 μg/g). After the mining was terminated and the area was restored, the uranium contents in the wood decreased by approximately 1 order of magnitude. The similar radial uranium distribution patterns of the three trees were confirmed by correlation analysis. In combination with the results of soil analyses, it was determined that there was a heterogeneous contamination in the forest investigated. This could be confirmed by pre-remediation soil uranium contents from literature. The uranium contents in the tree rings of the oaks investigated reflect the contamination history of the study area. This study demonstrates that the dendrochemical analysis of oak tree rings is a suitable technique for investigating past and recent uranium contamination in mining areas.

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“…Historical archives are useful as chronicles of urbanization, but not for geochemical or hydrological reconstructions. A few natural archives can be used for this purpose, such as dendrochronological work, which has enabled some anthropogenic pollution episodes to be determined in rivers (Saint-Laurent et al, 2011) or air contamination (Hirano and Morimoto, 1999;Nuhoglu, Y., 2006;Stravinskiene and Šimatonyte, 2008), or trace element contents in river sediments, which have been used to document the use of some metals for industrial or domestic purposes (e.g. Petelet-Giraud et al, 2009;Ayrault et al, 2010).…”

Section: -Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A geochemical perspective on Parisian urban history based on U–Th dating, laminae counting and yttrium and REE concentrations of recent carbonates in underground aqueducts

Pons‐Branchu

Douville

Roy‐Barman

et al. 2014

Quaternary Geochronology

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et al.. A geochemical perspective on Parisian urban history based on U-Th dating, laminae counting and yttrium and REE concentrations of recent carbonates in underground aqueducts. Quaternary Geochronology, Elsevier, 2014, 24, pp. AbstractTwo laminated carbonate deposits from the wall of an underground aqueduct, built between the 13 th and 15 th century, in Paris, France, were studied to provide historical information about nearby human occupation and urban development. To obtain a robust chronology for these small (29 and 45 mm thickness) and very young deposits< 800 a based on the probable date of aqueduct construction, we adopted two methods: laminae counting and U-Th analysis. For laminae, we tested the hypothesis that their deposition is bi-annual. Concerning U-Th dating, the influence of inherited 230 Th on calculated ages is discussed and detrital 230 Th/ 232 Th values for each speleothem was determined using stratigraphic constraints and found to be significantly different despite their close proximity. In these speleothems, that precipitated over approximately 300 a according to U-Th dating, the number of laminae is similar, and two laminae were deposited each year. A lamina-counting chronology was used to interpret the rare earth elements and yttrium content (REE + Y) variations measured by ICP-QMS as historical variations in water quality in relation with the anthropogenic use of these elements, with a marked increase in the REE + Y concentrations since the second half of the twentieth century. A marked negative Ce anomaly in the NASC-normalized REE trend is evidenced, and is more pronounced for post 1850s. This anomaly could be due to prior precipitation of Ce 4+ before the water reached the aqueduct, related to a high organic matter content of the water in oxidizing conditions. The increase in the Ce anomaly could indicate a second source of water, from a wastewater collection system or a modern water conveyance system. We thus demonstrate the interest of using these annual carbonate deposits in urban areas as a proxy for the history of urbanization or human activities.Keywords : urban speleothems, relative chronology, U-Th dating, urbanization impact on water quality, Rare Earth Elements, Yttrium. Highlights: We test the potential of urban speleothems as a natural archive for the history of the impact of urbanization on water chemistry  We compare absolute (U-Th) and relative chronologies for young speleothems  We discuss corrections for detrital 230 Th for U-Th dating using stratigraphic constraints  We evidence a high REE and yttrium content in infiltration waters in Paris since the mid-twentieth century  We discuss the presence of a negative Ce anomaly in the urban speleothems Pons-Branchu et al., Quaternary Geochronology 24 (2014) 44 -53

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Reconstructing contamination events on riverbanks in southern Québec using dendrochronology and dendrochemical methods

Cited by 16 publications

References 30 publications

Isotopic Record of Lead Contamination in Alluvial Soils and Tree Rings on Recent Floodplains (Southern Québec, Canada)

Isotopic Record of Lead Contamination in Alluvial Soils and Tree Rings on Recent Floodplains (Southern Québec, Canada)

The dendroanalysis of oak trees as a method of biomonitoring past and recent contamination in an area influenced by uranium mining

A geochemical perspective on Parisian urban history based on U–Th dating, laminae counting and yttrium and REE concentrations of recent carbonates in underground aqueducts

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