JSM 2004 - Toronto

Abstract #300586

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Activity Number: 294
Type: Topic Contributed
Date/Time: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
Sponsor: Section on Statistics and the Environment
Abstract - #300586
Title: Spatial Distribution of Metals in the Environment Around a Copper Smelter in Western Quebec, Canada
Author(s): Graeme Bonham-Carter*+
Companies: Geological Survey of Canada
Address: 601 Booth St., Ottawa, ON, K1A 0E8, Canada
Keywords: atmospheric pollution ; smelter emissions ; nonlinear model
Abstract:

Concentrations of metals in snow, peat, soil, lake water, and lake sediment judged from regional sample surveys show a roughly circular anomaly pattern around the smelter at Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. Concentrations near the smelter are up to three orders of magnitude greater than regional background levels. The decrease in concentration away from the smelter is approximately exponential, and the distance at which values are indistinguishable from background is about 65 km +/- 5 km. The spatial patterns are anisotropic due to wind effects, but weakly so. Deposition rates of metal calculated for snow and peat integrated over the area of the smelter-centred anomaly allow estimates to of the amounts of metal deposited from the smelter, as distinct from metal levels due to natural sources in background. Deposition tonnage can be compared with total emission tonnage by metal reported from the smelter, and the difference estimates the amount of metal transported in the atmosphere beyond the local anomaly. Deposition rates of smelter metal from the atmosphere beyond this distance are so small due to dilution that detection on the ground is difficult, except perhaps with isotope data.

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