Indicator plant-soil mercury patterns in a mercury-rich mining area of British Columbia

✍ Scribed by S. M. Siegel; B. Z. Siegel; C. Lipp; A. Kruckeberg; G. H. N. Towers; H. Warren

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 701 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0049-6979
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00159626

✦ Synopsis

British Columbia is commonly considered to be highly mercuriferous. Regional plant-soil Hg distribution patterns in B.C. and adjacent Alberta distinguish not only Hg-rich sites with histories of thermal activity, but also many more sites with Hg-levels at or below reference levels established at Prince George. In the Fort St. James-Pinchi Lake area nearby, environmental Hg sources include residues from a now abandoned but once productive mine, and ore bodies from the extensive Pinchi Fault system lode deposits. In the study of plant-soil Hg relations in this area horsetail, plantain and dandelion were found to be useful indicator plants. In addition however, samples of aquatic macrophytes, waters, sediments, and air were taken to broaden the picture of plant-environment Hg distribution.

After comparing our findings with various mine/smelter and other emission models, we concluded that mining activities were intensely polluting locally but the polluting species were not highly mobile. Elsewhere in the Fort St. James area, distribution patterns point to many low level widely dispersed sources, possibly the result of both re-emission of bioaccumulated Hg and its degassing from Pinchi fault deposits.