A regional approach for mineral soil weathering estimation and critical load assessment in boreal Saskatchewan, Canada.

In boreal regions of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, there is concern over emerging acid precursor emission sources associated with the oil sands industry. Base cation weathering rates (BC(w)) and steady-state critical loads of sulfur (CL(S)) were identified for upland forest soil plots (n=107) in 45 ecodistricts according to a new method for approximation of BC(w) in the region. This method was developed by regression of simple soil and site properties with BC(w) calculated through application of a soil chemical model (PROFILE). PROFILE was parameterized using detailed physicochemical data for a subset (n=35) of the sites. Sand content, soil moisture and latitude emerged as important predictive variables in this empirical regression approximation. Base cation weathering varied widely (0.1-8000 mmol(c) m(-3) yr(-1)) across the study sites, consistent with their contrasting soil properties. Several sites had lower rates than observed in other acid-sensitive regions of Canada owing to quartz dominated mineralogy and coarse-textured soils with very low surface area. Weathering was variable within ecodistricts, although rates were consistently low among ecodistricts located in the northwest of the province. Overall, half of the forest plots demonstrated CL(S) less than 45 mmol(c) m(-2) yr(-1). Historically, the acidification risk in this region has been considered low and monitoring has been limited. Given the very low CL(S) in many northern ecodistricts and the potential for increased acid deposition as oil sands activities expand, soil acidification in these regions warrants further study.