Geogenic, Anthropogenic, and Authigenic Minerals Hosting Arsenic and Antimony in Yellowknife Bay Sediments

Paudyn, Katrina A.; Jamieson, Heather E.; Chételat, John; Schuh, Christopher E.; Palmer, Michael J.; Mchale, Sean

doi:10.3749/2200035

Geogenic, Anthropogenic, and Authigenic Minerals Hosting Arsenic and Antimony in Yellowknife Bay Sediments

Journal Article · 01 July 2023 · Canadian Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3749/2200035· OSTI ID:2423445

Paudyn, Katrina A.; Jamieson, Heather E.; Chételat, John; Schuh, Christopher E.; Palmer, Michael J.; Mchale, Sean

Abstract

Yellowknife Bay (Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada) is a water body valued by surrounding communities for its subsistence, recreational, and cultural use. Located directly downstream of the former Giant Mine and Con Mine, Yellowknife Bay has received inputs from mine waste streams enriched in arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), and metals since the late 1930s. Lake sediments in Yellowknife Bay provide a record of metal(loid) contamination from aerially deposited roaster stack emissions, mine effluent, and Giant Mine tailings. A sediment sampling program was conducted in Yellowknife Bay to characterize As and Sb mineralogy using scanning electron microscopy-mineral liberation analysis. Mineralogical analysis of As- and Sb-hosted minerals in nine sediment cores suggests that arsenic trioxide (As2O3), originally deposited during the period of peak-mining emissions, has since been transformed into authigenic sulfides (interpreted to be realgar) down core from peak-mining emissions. Arsenic has also been attenuated by iron (Fe)-oxyhydroxides and roaster-generated iron oxides up-core from peak-mining emissions, near the sediment–water interface. The Sb-bearing minerals appear to be stable in Yellowknife Bay sediments, with no conclusive evidence of post-depositional mobility having been identified. The observed prevalence of arsenic trioxide in surface sediments proximal to Giant Mine suggests that As and Sb contamination is ongoing, likely from terrestrial weathering of contaminated soils and shoreline outcrops. Arsenic-bearing oxide minerals prevalent in surface sediments may become unstable should redox conditions in the hypolimnion change; prolonged anoxia could destabilize the As hosting minerals and release As to bottom waters. Therefore, long-term monitoring of the water column, including hypolimnion conditions, in Yellowknife Bay is recommended.

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 2423445

Journal Information:: Canadian Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology, Journal Name: Canadian Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 61; ISSN 2817-1713

Publisher:: Mineralogical Association of Canada

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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