Distribution of rare earth elements in marine sediments from the Strait of Sicily (western Mediterranean Sea): evidence of phosphogypsum waste contamination.
Concentrations of rare earth elements (REE), Y, Th and Sc were recently determined in marine sediments collected using a box corer along two onshore-offshore transects located in the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea). The REE+Y were enriched in offshore fine-grained sediments where clay minerals are abundant, whereas the REE+Y contents were lower in onshore coarse-grained sediments with high carbonate fractions. Considering this distribution trend, the onshore sediments in front of the southwestern Sicilian coast represent an anomaly with high REE+Y concentrations (mean value 163.4 μg g(-1)) associated to high Th concentrations (mean value 7.9 μg g(-1)). Plot of shale-normalized REE+Y data of these coastal sediments showed Middle REE enrichments relative to Light REE and Heavy REE, manifested by a convexity around Sm-Gd-Eu elements. These anomalies in the fractionation patterns of the coastal sediments were attributed to phosphogypsum-contaminated effluents from an industrial plant, located in the southern Sicilian coast.
IAMC-CNR, U.O.S. di Capo Granitola, via del Mare 1, 91021 Torretta Granitola (TP), Italy. giorgio.tranchida@cnr.it
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Bellanca
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D'Elia
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Neri
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Placenti
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Sprovieri
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Mazzola
D002133:Calcium Sulfate / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards
D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C077769:phosphogypsum; D010758:Phosphorus; D002133:Calcium Sulfate