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Description
Sixteen small lakes located 30 to 120 km from major oil sands development areas in Alberta, Canada, were sampled in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Sediment core analyses include concentrations of 53 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 47 elements including metals, and visible reflectance spectroscopy (VRS-chla) as a proxy for primary productivity. The data, published in 2017, are part of the Canada-Alberta Oil Sands Environmental Monitoring program.
Use Cases
Assessing historical contamination trends based on sediment core concentrations of PAHs and metals.
Modeling lake primary productivity changes over time using VRS-chla proxy data.
Evaluating regulatory compliance by comparing element concentrations to CCME sediment quality guidelines.
Analyzing spatial patterns of trace element deposition relative to oil sands development areas.
Strengths
Data includes 53 PAHs and 47 elements analyzed across 16 lakes over three years (2012-2014).
Results are benchmarked against Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) sediment quality guidelines.
Associated with a peer-reviewed publication providing full methodological details and interpretation.
Limitations
Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
Source
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Collection Method
Sediment core samples collected from lakes and analyzed for chemical composition and spectroscopy.
Time Range
2012-2014
Freshness
Last updated 2026-03-16 15:41:13.650444; freshness should be verified.
Geography
Sixteen lakes located 30 to 120 km from major oil sands development areas in Alberta, Canada.
Data is subject to the Open Government Licence - Canada (OGL-CA-2.0).