The Applications of Chemical Analyses of Sediments and Soils in ...

The surface 5 cm of sediment from MacFarlane and Raft Lakes, 5.5 miles fromCoppercliff contained 871 and 625 ppm nickel respectively. The surface 5 cm fromWhitefish Lake, 8.5 miles from Coppercliff contained 348 ppm Ni. The concentration ofnickel at 10-15 cm ranged from 10-40 ppm. Similar observations were made by otherworkers in the same area as discussed earlier (Michalski and Adamski, 1974).Decreasing nickel concentration with depth was also found in soils contaminatedby airborne pollution from the Coniston smelters (Contescu and Hutchinson, 1972);Hutchinson and Whitby, 1974, Whitby, 1974).Copper has only been mined in the Lac Dore area of Chibougaman for the past20 years. Unlike Sudbury sediments, no trend was observed in copper distributiondown the lake sediment core possible because of the shorter time period (Allan, 1974).Contaminated lake sediments were found downstream of base metal miningcamps near Manitouwadge, Ontario, in operation only since 1957. Maximumconcentrations in Manitouwadge and Mose Lake muds were, respectively, 8860 and7120 ppm Zn, 1234 and 3480 ppm Cu and 662 and 476 ppm Pb, compared withuncontaminated sediment levels of about 150 ppm. Lakes downstream ofManitouwadge and Mose Lakes had only slightly elevated levels of copper and lead,whereas high zinc levels were found in more remote lakes (German, 1974).ACID GENERATION IN MININGDeterioration of aquatic ecosystems often results from run-off of acidic water25