Rare earth elements in sediments of the Vigo Ria, NW Iberian Peninsula

The abundance and distribution of rare earth elements (REE) and their signatures in the Vigo Ria were studied from 50 samples of surface sediments and related to the geological formation in its watershed. The total amount of REE in the Ria is heterogeneous. It ranges from 220mg kg1 in the southern m...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Prego, Ricardo, Caetano, Miguel, Vale, Carlos, Marmolejo Rodríguez, Ana Judith
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2009
País:México
Institución:Instituto Politécnico Nacional
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital del IPN
OAI Identifier:oai:www.repositoriodigital.ipn.mx:123456789/12830
Acceso en línea:http://www.repositoriodigital.ipn.mx/handle/123456789/12830
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:REE
tracer
sediment
Coastal Zone
Lanthanides
Spain
Descripción
Sumario:The abundance and distribution of rare earth elements (REE) and their signatures in the Vigo Ria were studied from 50 samples of surface sediments and related to the geological formation in its watershed. The total amount of REE in the Ria is heterogeneous. It ranges from 220mg kg1 in the southern middle Ria margin in the vicinity of the Galin˜eiro geological shore complex, which contains REE-enriched minerals, to 2mg kg1 near the Ria mouth due to dilution with high levels of carbonated biogenic particles (31% of Ca). Rare earth elements of the Ria sediments are considerably enriched in light-REE relative to heavy-REE (a LREE/HREE ratio of 9.771.6) and also show a slightly negative Eu-anomaly. Low European shale normalised REE patterns were distinguished in the innermost sediments of Vigo Ria, but were not correlated with Al. This suggests a minor contribution of REE from upstream freshwater inputs to the sediments in the middle Vigo Ria zone. Normalised REE ratios in the middle Ria imply that fine particles enriched in REE may be exported from the Ria to shelf mud patches and REE can be useful as sediment tracers of Ria input on the shelf.