title: Rare earth elements in core marine sediments of coastal East Malaysia by instrumental neutron activation analysis.
abstract: A study was carried out on the concentration of REEs (Dy, Sm, Eu,Yb, Lu, La and Ce) that are present in the core marine sediments of East Malaysia from three locations at South China Sea and one location each at Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea. The sediment samples were collected at a depth of between 49 and 109 m, dried, and crushed to powdery form. The entire core sediments prepared for Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) were weighted approximately 0.0500 g to 0.1000 g for short irradiation and 0.1500 g to 0.2000 g for long irradiation. The samples were irradiated with a thermal neutron flux of 4.0×10(12) cm(-2) s(-1) in a TRIGA Mark II research reactor operated at 750 kW. Blank samples and standard reference materials SL-1 were also irradiated for calibration and quality control purposes. It was found that the concentration of REEs varies in the range from 0.11 to 36.84 mg/kg. The chondrite-normalized REEs for different stations suggest that all the REEs are from similar origins. There was no significant REEs contamination as the enrichment factors normalized for Fe fall in the range of 0.42-2.82.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM SERDANG, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: ahmadashraf.2007@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ahmadreza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ashraf
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM SERDANG, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saion
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM SERDANG, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gharibshahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM SERDANG, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Halimah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mohamed Kamari
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM SERDANG, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Yap
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chee Kong
authors.affiliation: Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohd
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suhaimi Hamzah
authors.affiliation: Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Md
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suhaimi Elias
mesh_terms: D002563:Cerium / Q000032:analysis; D005063:Europium / Q000032:analysis; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D007811:Lanthanum / Q000032:analysis; D008296:Malaysia; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000032:analysis*; D009501:Neutron Activation Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012493:Samarium / Q000032:analysis; D015018:Ytterbium / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D002563:Cerium; D012493:Samarium; D005063:Europium; D007811:Lanthanum; D015018:Ytterbium
keywords: Core marine sediments; East Malaysia; Enrichment factor; INAA; Rare earth elements