Fig 2. Samples were collected to represent the types of habitats affected by the spill including.

(A) organic-rich soil supporting a diverse wetland community including living, senesced and decayed vegetation, (B) organic-dominated lakeshore lacking extensive living vegetation, (C) mineral lakeshore including exposed native bedrock, cobbles, clays or sands, (D) native substrates with evidence of tailings deposition (visible accretions of tailings sediments intermingled with native substrate or coating of plant stems/leaves with fine tailings), (E) burial of native substrate in coarse tailings sands, (F) replacement of native substrate with a mixture of fine tailings and sands. The table to the right presents mean surface material estimates (n = 5, 1 m² quadrats) for sample sites with habitat classification (matching colors from figure to the left).