Long-term spatial and temporal trends, and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic compounds in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region

Long-term spatial and temporal trends, and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic compounds in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region

Crude oil

Petroleum industry

Oil sands

Deposition

Digital storage

Aromatic compounds

Roads and streets

Dust

Petroleum coke

Deforestation

PACs

Athabasca

Atmospheric deposition

We investigated the spatio-temporal trends of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) deposition in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) between 2008 and 2017, and applied source apportionment tools to assess sources using snowpacks. Estimated PAC mass deposition was significantly correlated with crude oil production (R2 = 0.48, p = 0.03), and increased between 2008 and 2017. Loadings of alkylated PACs c1-, c2-fluorenes/pyrenes and c1-, c3-benzo[a]anthracenes/chrysenes/triphenylenes significantly increased at mid-field sites (2550 km from central industrial reference site, AR6) (Mann-Kendall, p 2 = 0.690.91), nearest petcoke storage (R2 = 0.770.88), 0.89) and upgrader stack (R2 = 0.560.61). Source apportionment PAC distribution profiles of the source materials (petcokes, oil sand ores, road dust) did not show unique matching profiles with the snowpacks. However, the minimal presence of retene in petcokes and an abundance of benzo[ghi]fluoranthene in road dust was observed, and suggests potential for these compounds as chemical markers in distinguishing sources. Furthermore, correlations between PACs and selected metal(loid)s in the AOSR snowpacks were assessed to infer potential common sources. Significant positive (p 2020

268

Environmental Pollution

2021

Chibwe, Leah

Muir, Derek C.G.

Gopalapillai, Yamini

Shang, Dayue

Kirk, Jane L.

Manzano, Carlos A.

Atkinson, Beau

Wang, Xiaowa

Teixeira, Camilla

journalArticle

2697491

10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115351