This project examines arsenic in plants growing near closed or reclaimed gold
mines located in the traditional territories of two Yukon First Nations. A total of 238 soil
and plant samples (comprising 9 different species) were collected from Mt. Nansen,
Arctic Gold and Silver, and Venus Mine tailing properties. At each property, samples
were collected near the suspected point source of contamination, approximately 1 -3 km
away, and from background sites. Species were chosen for their ethnobotanical
significance to the Little Salmon/Carmacks and the Carcross/Tagish First Nations,
based on interviews with Elders and other knowledgeable people. Total and inorganic
arsenic concentrations were determined using ICP-MS and AAS instrumentation, and
organic arsenic concentrations were calculated from the difference.
Uptake of arsenic by plants was low compared to soil arsenic concentrations. In
both plants and soil, the arsenic form was predominantly inorganic. Concentrations in
berries at all three sites were low or undetectable, and are therefore considered safe to
eat under Health Canada tolerable daily intake guidelines for inorganic arsenic.
At Mt. Nansen, the lichen "caribou moss" (Cetraria/Cladina spp.), Bolete
mushrooms (Leccinum spp.), and the medicinal shrubs willow (Salix spp.) and Labrador
tea (Ledum groenlandicum/L. decumbens spp.) had high mean arsenic concentrations
around point sources or at sites up to 1.5 km away. These localized high
concentrations will not likely affect foraging animals, given their constant movement.
However, Carmacks residents could avoid gathering all species with elevated arsenic
around the Mt. Nansen mining property until reclamation is complete.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/13867 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Nicholson, Heather Christine |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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