The concentration and distribution of trace elements in otoliths collected from fish from Eden Lake, northern Manitoba, a link between the lacustrine fauna and regional geochemistry

• Main Author: Mathers, Karen H.
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/1642

This work is a baseline study of the relationship between the fish fauna at Eden Lake and the surrounding rocks. A broad suite of trace elements is incorporated into the otoliths of fish in their natural habitat where the only source of these trace elements is the local geology. Eden Lake is underlain by the Eden Lake Complex. The Eden Lake Complex is a monzonitic intrusion associated with pegmatite veins containing rare element-bearing minerals such as britholite, allanite and titanite. These minerals show distinct textures suggesting trace elements are being leached and liberated to the environment. Radiometric and biogeochemical surveys of the Eden Lake area have detected a surplus of trace element abundances in the lake and vegetation. REE and other trace elements, such as Sr, Zn, Mn, Fe, Ba, U, Th and F can all substitute in carbonate minerals and many of these elements have been detected in otoliths taken from different species of Eden Lake fish. A combination of LAM-ICP-MS, PIXE, SPM and image analysis determined the concentrations (in ppm) and distribution of the trace elements across the otoliths of different species. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)