Syncrude attempting to reconstruct watershed after oil sands mining

EDMONTON, AB, November 11, 2008/Troy Media/ -- Armed with new found knowledge from scientists researching boreal wetlands, Syncrude Canada is attempting to do something no one has tried before: reconstructing a fen after mining for oil sands.

Unlike bogs which get their water from precipitation, the hydrology of a fen depends on ground water. This provides numerous challenges for environmental scientist Clara Qualizza and her colleagues as they try to turn oil sand tailings into a peat forming landscape.

She is working closely with boreal hydrologist Dr. Kevin Devito to incorporate his research findings about water movement into the watershed design - surprises like water runs uphill in the boreal forest.

“We’re designing what the stratigraphy of the uplands and the material underneath the wetlands will be," Qualizza said. "We have this type of tailing sand: Should we make it coarser . . . should we add some finer material to it to allow the water to move through it easier or to block it? How do we drape the soils and connect them into the wetlands? Because the idea of water moving uphill is about the trees and the upland extending their roots and taking through the soil and taking the water out of the wetlands."

Qualizza’s team hopes to transplant blocks of peat from natural fens to enhance the re-vegetation process. The experimental fen should be finished in 2010.

Keywords: Syncrude Canada, reconstructing watershed, water movement, peat

News Beats: Environment, Business