Intra-Lake Response of Arcellinida (Testate Lobose Amoebae) to Gold Mining-Derived Arsenic Contamination in Northern Canada: Implications for Environmental Monitoring
Intra-lake response of Arcellinida (testate lobose amoebae) to gold mining-derived arsenic contamination in northern Canada: Implications for environmental monitoring Nawaf A. Nasser1, R. Timothy Patterson1, Jennifer M. Galloway2,3 and Hendrik Falck4 1 Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre and Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada 2 Geological Survey of Canada (GSC)/Commission géologique du Canada, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)/Ressources naturelles Canada (RNCan), Calgary, AB, Canada 3 Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark 4 Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Yellowknife, NT, Canada ABSTRACT Arcellinida (testate lobose amoebae) were examined from 40 near-surface sediment samples (top 0.5 cm) from two lakes impacted by arsenic (As) contamination associated with legacy gold mining in subarctic Canada. The objectives of the study are two folds: quantify the response of Arcellinida to intra-lake variability of As and other physicochemical controls, and evaluate whether the impact of As contamination derived from two former gold mines, Giant Mine (1938–2004) and Tundra Mine (1964–1968 and 1983–1986), on the Arcellinida distribution in both lakes is comparable or different. Cluster analysis and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) were used to identify Arcellinida assemblages in both lakes, and redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to quantify the relationship between the assemblages, As, and other geochemical and sedimentological Submitted 28 January 2020 parameters. Cluster analysis and NMDS revealed four distinct arcellinidan Accepted 3 April 2020 assemblages in Frame Lake (assemblages 1–4) and two in Hambone Lake 4 May 2020 Published (assemblages 5 and 6): (1) Extreme As Contamination (EAC) Assemblage; (2) High Corresponding author calcium (HC) Assemblage; (3) Moderate As Contamination (MAC) assemblages; Nawaf A.
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