Abstract
The distribution of rare earth elements and the microbial community in nearby ground water and soil were influenced by tailings ponds. Accordingly, the behaviors of rare earth elements in ground water and soil around the tailings pond, and the changes of microbial communities were both investigated in this study. The results showed that rare earth elements accumulated in ground water and soil around the tailings pond appeared as light rare earth elements enrichment. Through the normalization of rare earth elements, different extents of anomaly (from negative to positive) were observed for Ce and Eu in the distribution patterns of REEs in groundwater, however, Ce and Eu were negatively anomaly in soil. According to the correlation analysis, Mn2+, SO42−, Cl−, ammonia nitrogen and Ca2+ are significantly correlated with the distribution of rare earth elements. Meanwhile, there were the same dominant bacteria in ground water and soil including Actinobateria, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria at the phylum level. This microbial community composition is similar to that reported in arid lands around the world. On the other hand, Bacillus and Blastococcus showed significant correlation with rare earth elements at the genus level. This study might provide an important basis for the risk assessment of REEs in the environment.
Highlights
The distribution of rare earth elements and the microbial community in nearby ground water and soil were influenced by tailings ponds
Physical and geochemical properties of lanthanides, they are usually divided into two groups: LREEs from La to europium (Eu, Z = 92) and HREEs from gadolinium (Gd, Z = 64) to Lu
The ratio of the number of wells with Fe, M n2+, Cl−, SO42−, ammonia nitrogen and total hardness exceeding the standard in the total number of wells was 33.33%, 61.11%, 66.67%, 77.78%, 100% and 81.25%, respectively
Summary
The distribution of rare earth elements and the microbial community in nearby ground water and soil were influenced by tailings ponds. The behaviors of rare earth elements in ground water and soil around the tailings pond, and the changes of microbial communities were both investigated in this study. There were the same dominant bacteria in ground water and soil including Actinobateria, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria at the phylum level This microbial community composition is similar to that reported in arid lands around the world. The REEs partitioning between bacteria and fluid phases leads to a typical REEs s ignature[16] In this context, microbial activity may play a key role in the sample points, influencing the distribution of trace elements onto microbial surfaces
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