A Reconnaissance Of Contaminants In The Fraser River Drainage Basin Using Dated Sediment Cores From Six Lakes

Often, the source of the contaminant can be surmised either from the patterns of contamination (for example congener distribution of PCBs) or from the known history of contaminating sources within the drainage (for example Hg mining or the establishment of a pulp mill). [...] The magnitude of the spike was chosen to be at least 10 times the expected amount of Hg in the sample. [...] To analyze the mercury contained on the gold trap, a nichrome wire coil was placed around the trap, and the trap was inserted into the analytical train between the incoming Hg-free helium and the fluorescence detector. [...] The area reject, determined from the ion chromatogram of each compound, is the area of a peak with height three times the maximum height of the noise. [...] However, activities such as mining play no role in Moose Lake, and the predominant source of the contaminant Pb is likely to be the automobile traffic along the north side of the lake.

In response to increasing public concern over the effects of growing urbanization and industry in the Fraser River Basin, in June 1991, the federal government announced the Fraser River Action Plan (FRAP). [...] As part of FIL4P, the Environmental Quality Program is responsible for providing a baseline of the environmental conditions in the aquatic environment and measuring the effects of major pollution sources on the aquatic environment. [...] The Fraser River study region encompassed the mainstem of the Fraser River between Shelley and Yale, while the Thompson River study region encompassed the area between McLure on the North Thompson River and Savona on the Thompson River. [...] The main tributaries entering the Fraser River north of Prince George are the McGregor River, draining the Rocky Mountains, the Salmon River flowing from the north and the Willow and Bowron Rivers, draining the Cariboo Mountains. [...] At Lytton the muddy waters of the Fraser are joined from the east by the clear waters of the Thompson River before entering into the long, narrow, Fraser River Canyon that cuts through the barrier of the Coast Range 03.