Geochemistry of Rare Earth Elements in Sediment of Central India

Abstract

The rare earth elements (REE) are of great interests due to wide industrial applications. In the present work, geochemistry of REE in the contaminated pond sediment of Ambagarh Chowki, central India is described. The concentration (n = 24) of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Eu, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Th and U was ranged from 16 - 119, 41 - 163, 4.1 - 28, 16 - 99, 0.7 - 2.7, 3.2 - 18, 2.7 - 16, 0.4 - 2.3, 2.2 - 13, 0.4 - 2.4, 1.1 - 6.1, 0.2 - 0.8, 0.9 - 4.8, 0.13 - 0.70, 6 - 25 and 0.46 - 1.86 mg/kg with mean value of 42 ± 9, 89 ± 13, 9.4 ± 1.9, 34 ± 7, 1.2 ± 0.2, 6.3 ± 1.2, 5.4 ± 1.0, 0.8 ± 0.1, 4.2 ± 0.8, 0.8 ± 0.2, 2.0 ± 0.4, 0.3 ± 0.1, 1.6 ± 0.3, 0.24 ± 0.04, 11 ± 2 and 1.14 ± 0.13 mg/kg, respectively. The concentration ratio of ∑LREE/∑HREE, La/Y and Th/U are discussed. The spatial distribution and sources of the REE are described.