Distribution of rare earth elements in marine sediments from the Strait of Sicily (western Mediterranean Sea): evidence of phosphogypsum waste contamination

Mar Pollut Bull. 2011 Jan;62(1):182-91. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.11.003. Epub 2010 Dec 3.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Calcium Sulfate / analysis*
  • Calcium Sulfate / standards
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Geologic Sediments / chemistry*
  • Mediterranean Sea
  • Metals, Rare Earth / analysis*
  • Metals, Rare Earth / standards
  • Phosphorus / analysis*
  • Phosphorus / standards
  • Seawater / chemistry
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical / standards

Substances

  • Metals, Rare Earth
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • phosphogypsum
  • Phosphorus
  • Calcium Sulfate