). Rare earth element patterns in lake sediments studied by Neutron Activation Analysis

OLIVEIRA S.M.B., F.E. LARIZZATTI, D.I.T. FÁVARO, S.R.D. MOREIRA, B.P. MAZZILLI, E.L. PIOVANO

JOURNAL OF RADIOANALYTICAL AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY

Año: 2003 p. 531 - 535

0236-5731

Using instrumental neutron activation analysis, the vertical distribution of La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Yb and Lu was determined in 3 well dated sedimentary cores collected from Laguna Mar Chiquita, Argentina. Validation of the methodology was done using the Soil 7 (IAEA) reference material. The REE contents vary according to core location and lithological units, depending on the proportion of fluvial terrigenous  omponents in the lake sediments. Lithologies with higher proportion of terrigenous components show higher REE concentrations, suggesting that the dominant REE carrier phase might be a detrital mineral. There is a consistent value of about 1.2 for (La/Yb)N and (LREE/HREE)N ratios for all sediments at the three sites, indicating a slight LREE enrichment in relation to the average shale NASC. Ce/Ce* values are close to 1.0, meaning that Ce behaves similarly to other light REE.s. N and (LREE/HREE)N ratios for all sediments at the three sites, indicating a slight LREE enrichment in relation to the average shale NASC. Ce/Ce* values are close to 1.0, meaning that Ce behaves similarly to other light REE.s.