Rare earth elements (REE) and thorium in the youngest Pleistocene glacial tills in Poland

The study encompassed outcrops of glacial tills (topsoil, subsoil-1, subsoil-2) of the maximum stadial of the Vistulian Glaciation and of the Wartanian Stadial of the Odranian Glaciation, occurring along the maximum extent of the Vistulian ice sheet. The youngest Polish glacial tills show very similar concentrations of REE and Th. The concentrations of these elements vary across a wide range from 0.08 mg/kg (Tm and Lu) to 70.3 mg/kg (Ce), with slightly higher values for the older tills (Wartanian). Both these tills show clear fractionation of LREE and HREE, with a higher and more varied LREE concentration. The most prominent feature distinguishing one till from the other is the distribution of REE fractions along their vertical sections. In the younger (Vistulian) tills the maximum concentration of individual LREE is found at a depth of 1.0 m, and of HREE, Sc and Th, at 2.0 m; while in the older (Wartanian) tills the highest concentrations of all elements investigated are observed at a depth of 1.0 m. Also, the mineral compositions of the tills are very alike. The dominant minerals are quartz (average 56%) and feldspars (approximately 9%), with a trend of decreasing concentrations with depth. There are no carbonates in the topsoil (0.3 m level), and the clay minerals are dominated by illite (approximately 16%) and kaolinite (average 5%). Statistical analysis indicates over a dozen factors determining the concentration of REE and Th in both tills. Three of them have a crucial (96% of total variation) effect on the concentrations of these elements. These factors are probably of geogenic nature, intimately associated with similar source areas, and with similar processes of deposition, diagenesis and weathering of the tills

Rare Earth Elements (REE) in surface environments of the lithosphere

In the Polish geochemical literature there is no general discussion of the occurrence and behaviour of REE in surface environments. This text is an attempt to review the world literature concerning the REE occurrence and behaviour mainly in rocks, minerals (primary and secondary) and soils, and during hypergenic and soil-forming processes. The article also presents the atomic structure and properties of REE, their divisions and participation in the biosphere, organic matter and sediments of selected Polish lakes and, additionally, anthropogenic sources. Particular attention is given to primary and secondary REE minerals and their presence in rocks, soils (including soil-forming processes) and hypergenic processes. The main source of REE is the primary minerals of acid and siliceous igneous rocks and secondary minerals of sedimentary rocks. Among primary minerals the largest quantities of REE are concentrated in heavy minerals (anatase, ilmenite, sphe- ne, rutile and zircon). Basic silicate weathering leads to the formation of secondary clay minerals which, together with iron and manganese oxides and carbonates, are the main sources of REE as secondary minerals

Lantan i cer w glebach Polski

The paper present basic spatial analysis lanthanum and cerium distribution in Poland soils. Attempted to determine geochemical background and range and intensity of enrichment and anomalies La and Ce content in top (0–0,2 m) and bottom (0,5–2 m) soils. These data are presented in the form two color maps of polygonal with basic statistic information. The text part describes the main areas of enrichment and attempts to indicate the source of these values

EuroGeoSurveys geochemical mapping of agricultural and grazing land soil of Europe (GEMAS). Field manual.

REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), the new European Chemicals Regulation was adopted in December 2006. It came into force on the 1st June 2007. REACH, as well as the pending EU Soil Protection Directive, require additional knowledge about "soil quality" at the European scale. The GEMAS (geochemical mapping of agricultural soils and grazing land of Europe) project aims at providing harmonized geochemical data of arable land and land under permanent grass cover at the continental, European scale. Geological Surveys in 34 European countries, covering an area of 5.6 million km2, have agreed to sample their territory at a sample density of 1 site each, arable land (0-20 cm) and land under permanent grass cover (0-10 cm), per 2500 km2. Sampling will take place during 2008, following a jointly agreed field protocol which is presented in this report. All samples will be prepared in just one laboratory, a strict quality control procedure has been established and all samples will always be jointly analyzed in just one laboratory for any one chemical element/parameter

The EuroGeoSurveys geochemical mapping of agricultural and grazing land soils project (GEMAS) - Evaluation of quality control results of aqua regia extraction analysis.

Rigorous quality control (QC) is one of the keystones to the success of any regional geochemical mapping programme. For the EuroGeoSurveys (EGS) GEMAS (Geochemical mapping of agricultural and grazing land soils) project 2211 samples (including field duplicates) of agricultural soil (Ap, Ap-horizon, 0-20 cm) and 2118 samples (including field duplicates) from land under permanent grass cover ("grazing land" - Gr, topsoil 0-10 cm) were collected from a large part of Europe, centrally prepared (air dried, sieved to <2 mm, homogenised and split into sub-samples) and randomised prior to being sent out to contract laboratories. QC consisted of (1) collection of a field duplicate at a rate of 1 in 20 field samples, (2) preparation of two large project standards ("Ap" and "Gr") for insertion between the routine project samples, (3) preparation of an analytical replicate from each field duplicate and (4) randomisation of all samples prior to analysis. Here QC-results covering analysis of 53 chemical elements (Ag, Al, As, Au, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Ga, Ge, Hf, Hg, In, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Ni, P, Pb, Pd, Pt, Rb, Re, S, Sb, Sc, Se, Sn, Sr, Ta, Te, Th, Ti, Tl, U, V, W, Y, Zn, Zr), following an aqua regia extraction on a 15 g aliquot per sample of both sample materials, are reported. Practical detection limits and precision, as well as the analytical results for the two project standards Ap and Gr are provided for all 53 elements. All analyses were carried out within twenty days at ACME laboratories in Vancouver, Canada. No serious quality problems, other than a few occasional outliers for a number of elements (B, Ca, and Sn) were detected, and the analytical results were accepted after investigating the reasons for these outliers

Mercury in European agricultural and grazing land soils

Agricultural (Ap, Ap-horizon, 0–20 cm) and grazing land soil samples (Gr, 0–10 cm) were collected from a large part of Europe (33 countries, 5.6 million km2) at an average density of 1 sample site/2500 km2. The resulting more than 2 x 2000 soil samples were air dried, sieved to <2 mm and analysed for their Hg concentrations following an aqua regia extraction. Median concentrations for Hg are 0.030 mg/kg (range: <0.003–1.56 mg/kg) for the Ap samples and 0.035 mg/kg (range: <0.003–3.12 mg/kg) for the Gr samples. Only 5 Ap and 10 Gr samples returned Hg concentrations above 1 mg/kg. In the geochemical maps the continental-scale distribution of the element is clearly dominated by geology. Climate exerts an important influence. Mercury accumulates in those areas of northern Europe where a wet and cold climate favours the build-up of soil organic material. Typical anthropogenic sources like coal-fired power plants, waste incinerators, chlor-alkali plants, metal smelters and urban agglomerations are hardly visible at continental scales but can have a major impact at the local-scale

Ce, La and Y concentrations in agricultural and grazing-land soils of Europe

Ce, La and Y from agricultural (Ap) and grazing land (Gr) soils of Europe have been investigated using new geochemical data produced by the GEMAS (Geochemical mapping of agricultural and grazing land soils) project. Interpolated maps showing Ce, La, and Y distributions in Ap and Gr were generated using ArcView and classified with the concentration — area (CA) fractal method. The median values of the investigated elements show similar concentrations in Ap and Gr soils, while the median values obtained by XRF-total analyses are generally higher than those obtained by aqua regia extraction, ICP-MS (aqua regia). In general, high pH alkaline soils have higher REE concentrations while specific anomalies can often be correlated with known phosphate and REE mineralizations. The GEMAS and the topsoils media from the FOREGS (Forum of European Geological Surveys) Project databases are compared. FOREGS geochemical data shows larger extended anomalies, such as the European wide north–south division, which are difficult to attribute to local processes, while the GEMAS anomalies are spatially more restricted, and can be related to a number of more local factors (e.g., climate, geology, pH, clay content and presence of till)

Geogenic and agricultural controls on the geochemical composition of European agricultural soils

Concern about the environmental impact of agriculture caused by intensification is growing as large amounts of nutrients and contaminants are introduced into the environment. The aim of this paper is to identify the geogenic and agricultural controls on the elemental composition of European, grazing an nd agricultural soils