BISC 313 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Quesnel Lake, Quesnel River, Mount Polley

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Department of Humanities Biological Sciences
• Course: BISC 313
• Professor: Vicki Marlatt

Document Summary

Lecture 11 case study: metal mining part 2. Copper/gold rich ore is extracted from open mine pits, crushed and copper-rich minerals are removed at the mill. Tailings and crushed rock left over after the copper/gold is removed. Tailings contain higher levels of copper than natural background levels in surrounding rocks that are not mined. One of the tailings pond (untreated water and substrates) leaked out = largest chemical spill in bc. Tailings pond -> polly lake -> hazeltine creek -> quesnel lake. Routes of exposure on organisms in contaminated quesnel lake: water ingestions (gills, drinking the water, amphibians, food consumption (sockeye juveniles consume zooplankton, which consumes phytoplankton, direct contact (pore water and surface water, direct contact (sediment) Incidental sediment ingestion: contact with resuspended sediment. Turbidity effects photosynthetic organisms (covering light) and slowing down growth and along the food chain (animals that depend on photosynthetic organisms for food.