Centennial Collegiate, Saskatoon, SK From
From Left Top: Ghazi Sami, Vladimir Gorovikov, Amitov Singh, Mrs. Gregoire, Fouzan Nazir
From Left Middle: Alma Ashraf, Hira Rehman, Dwip Parekh
Front: Sara El-Tohamy
Having begun this project several years ago, we have been able to study boreal forest soil from Quebec, Keeley Lake (north-eastern Saskatchewan), and, now, from the Athabasca Sand Dunes (north-eastern corner of Saskatchewan).? Our first experiments on the soil from Quebec suggested that nitric acid rain may remove and transport selective species of aluminum from soil. Experiments on Keeley Lake and Athabasca were conducted on separate horizons (or layers) of soil. Results indicated that aluminum was buffered in the top soil horizon but there does not seem to be the same buffering mechanism protecting aluminum in the top layer of the Athabasca soil. The bottom layer of the Keeley Lake soil showed no effect on aluminum indicating that it may also be protected by a buffering mechanism.? The bottom layers of Athabasca soil also indicate that there is a buffering mechanism in the soil but not enough in this type of soil to totally protect the aluminum.?
Based on previous experiments on different soil horizons of Keeley Lake soil, we suspect that the buffering mechanism in the bottom horizon of soil is CaCO3 (CaCO3 + 2HNO3 ? H2CO3 + Ca(NO3)2). Our data also seemed to suggest that the buffering mechanism in the bottom layer of Athabasca soil was not able to protect all of the 6-fold aluminum as a small amount of it leached out of the soil and was found in the residue.? Our previous experiment indicated that the buffering mechanism in the top layer of Keeley Lake soil is different than the bottom Keeley Lake soil layer because very little calcium or nitrogen leached out of the top soil layer.? We suspect that either the top soil horizon had already been exposed to acid deposition or that organic matter was acting as the buffer.? Whatever was protecting the 6-fold aluminum in the top soil horizon of Keeley Lake soil was not present in the top layer of Athabasca soil because 6-fold aluminum appeared to be removed from the untreated soil as demonstrated by the spectra from the top layer, acid treated soil, and the top layer, acid residue.? What is protecting the 6-fold aluminum in the Keeley Lake soil that is not protecting the 6-fold aluminum in the Athabasca soil??
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Lots of time and planing both at CLS and in the classroom went into this experiment. |
The soil must be ground into a fine powder. |
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First, we gather for instructions on sample preparation. |
Getting the sample holder ready. The dark square is a piece of double-sided carbon tape. It sticks to the copper holder then we will ?stick? our soil to it. |
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Hands on experience with the SGM Beamline. Students set up the experiment and keep good records for later analysis. |
Taking time out on occasion to check twitter and facebook |
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Keeping meticulous records. |
Waiting for scans. Can you tell our beamtime went until midnight? |
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Beautiful sample chamber on the SGM beamline. |
Getting some expert advice from Dr. Rob Blyth (CLS). |
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Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:44