Bringing the lab outside: Alberta’s aquatic mesocosm facilities

Scientists at Innotech Alberta have created a valuable bridge between the natural world and the laboratory, contributing to better reclamation and design of end-pit lakes for Alberta’s oil sands industry. Their solution is to use mesocosms, an outdoor system of contained structures that allow researchers to replicate many real-world conditions in controlled experiments.

The InnoTech Alberta aquatic mesocosms currently consist of 16 above ground polyethylene tanks and 30 below-ground, double-walled tanks.

When a mine reaches end of life, the land it operated on must be reclaimed to a usable state. End-pit lakes—a common landform created when surface mining pits are backfilled with mining by-products and then topped off with water—are part of a reclamation plan. There are stringent requirements for getting end-pit lakes approved and understanding how they will impact their surrounding ecosystem is critical to their design. This includes choosing fill materials that are best suited to the reclamation goals and the lake’s intended end use.

However, testing different fill materials in a real end-pit lake can pose risks to the environment, and small-scale laboratory experiments lack the seasonal conditions of the real world. So how do scientists get the data needed to design the best end-pit lakes possible? The answer may lie somewhere in between—in mesocosms. Mesocosms provide researchers with a simplified model of a real ecosystem. They also provide a way to test the impact of a range of water chemistry conditions on different species over time. This can help planners understand the impact of Alberta’s complex freeze-thaw cycle and determine the appropriate percentage of tailings and other materials to include in end-pit lakes.

Brian Eaton, Manager of the Environmental Impacts division at InnoTech Alberta, described the mesocosms as a tool to manage the risks associated with oil sands end-pit lakes.

“We use the mesocosms to look at different tailings and other oil sands by-products that could potentially be found in end-pit lakes,” he said. “Then we investigate what those materials do in terms of biological systems and their potential impact on the environment. They allow us to do controlled and replicated experiments that model a natural system.”

Built in 2016 in partnership with Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), the InnoTech Alberta aquatic mesocosms currently consist of 16 above-ground polyethylene tanks (5,000 litres) and 30 below-ground, double-walled tanks (15,000 litres). The large below-ground mesocosms are the only ones in the world capable of supporting research during the winter. This allows researchers to observe how water and living organisms are impacted by the freeze-thaw cycles that naturally occur throughout Alberta’s colder months.

The facilities, located near Vegreville, Alberta, also include a variety of instruments and equipment to support numerous sampling and monitoring systems.

InnoTech Alberta’s mesocosm test facilities are accessible to a variety of sectors and offer a variety of access models. Trained staff are available to support organizations from the study design stages through to the testing and monitoring stages. Alternatively, if available, companies may rent the facilities and manage their experiments independently. InnoTech Alberta will also customize split designs where both parties collaboratively design and manage the experiments.

Learn more about how Innotech's Mesocosm Test Facilities and other services can help you solve your business's challenges.

This article is part of Making Waves, an annual Alberta Innovates publication highlighting water solutions we support. You can read more stories from this issue below.