Why is this research important to Alberta?

• A major challenge facing Alberta’s oil sands industry is the requirement to reclaim mining-impacted environments.
• Over 100,000 ha of boreal forest have been disturbed by mining, but reclamation landscapes have been constructed on <10% of this land.
• Pit lakes are a critical component of all oil sands closure plans to manage water throughout the reclamation and closure timeline. Over 30 pit lakes are planned, with a range of types and combinations of freshwater, oil sands process-affected water and/or treated tailings.
• Pit lakes meet environmental and end land use objectives and form an accepted part of the reclamation and closure landscape for local stakeholders and Indigenous communities.
• Critical policy gaps in pit lake guidance need to be addressed to enable progressive reclamation of oil sands developments.

What is the goal of this work? How will genomics be used?

• This project will leverage diverse omics methods to assess the reclamation status of Alberta’s only full-scale pilot oil sands pit lake, Base Mine Lake Demonstration (BML).
• Lake food webs are based on algae and small zooplankton. Therefore, the team will assess microbial food webs using nucleic acid-based omics methods.
• Biotic communities in BML will be compared to a set of natural boreal lakes.
• Omics analyses will start with the extraction and sequencing of cellular DNA/RNA from lake water.
• Analyses include: 1) Species inventories via next-generation sequencing of taxonomic marker genes; and 2) Functional fingerprinting of key metabolic processes encoded in metagenomes and metatranscriptomes (i.e. the entire complement of DNA/RNA in an ecosystem).
• These analyses will identify species and functions that BML does or does not share with natural lakes, as indicators for assessing the status of future pit lakes.
• Samples and support are provided by Suncor Energy (Syncrude) Operating Inc. (SESOI).

What are the expected benefits, and how will the research findings be shared?

• The project fulfills the need to develop tools to assess the ecological performance of oil sands pit lakes.
• Findings will place BML within the context of diverse natural lakes, identify geochemical factors affecting its food webs, suggest biotic indicators of reclamation status, and ultimately provide potential pit lake monitoring tools.
• Findings will be shared with the partner to assist their ongoing efforts at optimizing pit lake design and management.
• Advancement of successful reclamation strategies will bolster Canada’s image as a sustainable energy producer.

Related Resources

Related information can be accessed through:

• Research publication: Microbial community development in an oil sands pit lake
• Research publication: Phytoplankton ecology in the early years of a boreal oil sands end pit lake