*This website is for the purposes of a course (RENR 711), not for the purposes of published research.
Abstract
The boreal forest of northern Alberta, Canada is home to one the largest oil sands deposits on earth. Removing the bitumen from the sand produces a form of waste known as fluid fine tailings, composed primarily of small mineral particles and water. The tailings contain inorganic salts as well as organic compounds such as naphthenic acids. The problem is that we do not have a good understanding of what happens to tree growth when tailing is used as a subsoil material. A greenhouse study was conducted to evaluate how woody plants grow in this tailings material. Beaked willow (Salix bebbiana) was planted in tall pots containing tailings on the bottom and topped with different reclamation soils at varying capping depths (0, 5, 10 and 20 cm). The different soil types were forest floor mineral mix (FFMM), a typically upland forest soil that is rich in minerals; peat mineral mix (PMM), an organic based wetland or lowland soil; and a 50/50 mixture, containing 0.5 FFMM and 0.5 PMM. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of different capping depths and soil types on woody plant growth. The results demonstrate that all soil capping depths produced a large increase in aboveground biomass (307.5% for 5 cm, 397.1% for 10cm and 317.6% for 20cm). The capping soil containing the 50/50 mixture produced the greatest biomass (9.56 g), followed by the forest floor (7.00 g) and peat (5.62 g). The biochar amended soil did not improve plant growth.