Environmental contaminants: Sources and fate by innovative multi-proxy isotope approaches

环境污染物：创新多代理同位素方法的来源和归宿

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-03896
• 负责人: Widory, David
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=755119
• 关键词: Environmental; contaminants; Sources; fate; innovative

Contaminants are today a major societal issue for most countries, their presence often exceeding national and international quality guidelines. As a result, interest in monitoring networks of environmental quality have grown substantially in the past several years. Still, there is a knowledge gap about the eventual transformation of these contaminants in the environment, arising the need to develop and implement innovative approaches to better constrain the sources and processes controlling their budgets, with the ultimate objective of designing specifically targeted management plans where needed. In this Discovery Grant research program, I am proposing to investigate the cycle of contaminants in the air/-soil/-water continuum through the lens of innovative multi-proxy multi-isotope approaches. I am capitalising on the unique analytical capacities acquired by my research group within the last few years as well as on a privileged access to the facilities of the Geotop research center (a geoscience interuniversity research center aiming at studying Earth dynamics) at UQAM. I will focus throughout the 5 years of this research program on exploring the fate of contaminants once released in the environment, focusing on 2 short-term objectives related to two distinct classes of carbon contaminants: 1) Are photooxidation and ozonation contributing to the presence of aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in the environment? AMPA, an agricultural and urban degradation byproduct, has been classified as persistent in soils and recent studies have demonstrated its adverse impact on environmental and health qualities. I will particularly focus on the mechanisms responsible for the formation of AMPA by the transformation of either glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) or of phosphonates present in our sewage effluents. 2) Fingerprinting the contribution of atmospheric Dissolved Black Carbon (DBC), in search of the potential "missing link" in the global carbon budget. Although rivers have been thought to be the main sources of DBC in the oceans, a recent study contradicted this conclusion. Here I will explore the significance of atmospheric deposition as the missing source of DBC. The findings would postulate that direct deposition of DBC through this pathway is also plausible for the cryospheric regions where, so far, black carbon (BC) aerosols solubilized over time are believed to be the only source of DBC prevalent in the region. This research program is highly relevant in the current context of an increasing abundance of environmental contaminants worldwide and will advance our understanding of their sources and fates. Finally, it will offer a stimulating environment for the numerous gender-balanced highly qualified personnel (HQP) who will be involved in the program (4 BSc, 3 MSc and 2 PhD), combining training on state-of-the-art analytical instrumentations with the broad understanding of complex and strategic environmental issues.

如今，污染物已成为大多数国家的一个主要社会问题，其存在常常超出国家和国际质量准则，因此，在过去几年中，人们对环境质量监测网络的兴趣大幅增长，但人们对污染物的认识仍存在差距。这些污染物最终会在环境中发生转变，因此需要开发和实施创新方法，以更好地限制控制其预算的来源和流程，最终目标是在需要时设计专门有针对性的管理计划。我建议调查循环我正在利用我的研究小组在过去几年中获得的独特分析能力以及获得的特权，通过创新的多代理多同位素方法来研究空气/土壤/水连续体中的污染物。在 UQAM 的 Geotop 研究中心（旨在研究地球动力学的地球科学校际研究中心）的设施中，我将在该研究计划的 5 年中重点探索污染物一旦释放到环境中的命运，重点关注。与两类不同碳污染物相关的 2 个短期目标：1) 光氧化和臭氧化是否会导致环境中氨甲基膦酸 (AMPA) 的存在？AMPA 是一种农业和城市退化副产品，已被归类为持久性污染物。土壤和最近的研究表明它对环境和健康质量产生不利影响，我将特别关注通过草甘膦除草剂（GBH）或除草剂的转化形成 AMPA 的机制。 2) 对大气中溶解黑碳 (DBC) 的贡献进行指纹识别，以寻找全球碳预算中潜在的“缺失环节”，尽管河流被认为是 DBC 的主要来源。海洋中，最近的一项研究反驳了这一结论。在这里，我将探讨大气沉积作为 DBC 缺失来源的重要性。研究结果表明，通过该途径直接沉积 DBC 也是合理的。迄今为止，随着时间的推移而溶解的黑碳（BC）气溶胶被认为是该地区普遍存在的 DBC 的唯一来源，该研究计划在当前全球环境污染物日益丰富的背景下具有高度相关性。最后，它将为参与该计划的众多性别平衡的高素质人才（HQP）（4 名理学学士、3 名理学硕士和 2 名博士）提供一个激励性的环境。对最先进的分析仪器进行培训，对复杂的战略环境问题有广泛的了解。