Abstract
A study on the rare earth elements (REEs) of Redang Island marine sediments was conducted in August 2011 during the premonsoon season. Bottom sediments were collected from 27 sampling stations on board UMT Discovery II vessel using a Smith McIntyre grab and analyzed for rare earth elements (REEs) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results showed that the REEs patterns in sediments reflected the source rock patterns with an overall order of abundance such as: light rare earth elements (LREE) > middle rare earth element (MREE) > high rare earth elements (HREE). The chondrite normalized patterns of REEs showed enrichment of LREEs over HREEs with La/Yb of 13.6 while the chondrite normalized value showed low (Gd/Yb)N ratios (2.12) which was illustrated in the flat HREE pattern. The chondrite normalized REE patterns of sediments showed the enrichment of LREE and depletion of HREE. From our findings, REEs concentrations in the study area were found to be of geogenic origins and the distributions were not influenced by anthropogenic sources.
Highlights
Geochemical reactions in the ocean sediments play a major role in maintaining and/or altering the chemical composition of surrounding waters
The REE range from La-Sm is classified as light rare earth elements (LREE) and Gd-Lu is considered to be heavy rare earth elements (HREE)
The concentrations of the 14 REEs in sediments followed the order of Ce >La >Nd >Pr >Sm >Eu >Gd >Dy > Yb >Er >Lu >Tb >Ho >Tm which is relatively similar to the previous study in South China Sea reported by Bao and Li (1993) and mean REE values in oceanic crust proposed by Ronov et al [14] (Table 2)
Summary
Geochemical reactions in the ocean sediments play a major role in maintaining and/or altering the chemical composition of surrounding waters. REEs include the 15 lanthanide elements (Z = 57 through 71) and yttrium (Z = 39). These exhibit identical physical and chemical properties making them useful probes of low temperature geochemical reactions [9]. Comparison among REEs will facilitate in normalization of analyses to reference standards such as chondrite [8]. The use of this method eliminates the abundance variation between lanthanides of odd and even atomic number and allows determination of the extent of fractionation between the lanthanides, because such fractionation is not considered to have taken place during chondrite formation. The method is useful because chondrites are thought to be compositionally similar to the original earth’s mantle [10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
