Rare earth elements in waters from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsky mud volcano, Far East of Russia

Abstract

For the first time, data have been obtained on the concentrations of REE in the subsurface fluids of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsky mud volcano, as well as in the spring at the foot of this volcano. It has been demonstrated that the REE concentrations in the waters of the studied volcano are significantly higher than in the waters of the mud volcanoes of Junggar Basin. It has been ascertained that the total concentration of REE in mud volcanic waters does not depend on their mineralization, yet it correlates with the concentration of Al. This is probably caused by the sorption of REE on the fine particles of clay suspension. The obtained ranges of REE have a high positive Eu anomaly, which is likely to be an artifact due to the relatively high concentration of Ba in the studied waters.