Rare earth elements (REEs) as pollution indicator in sediment of Linggi River, Malaysia

Md Suhaimi Elias; Shariff Ibrahim; Kamarudin Samuding; Nesamalar Kantasamy; Shamsiah Ab Rahman; Azian Hashim

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.05.038

Rare earth elements (REEs) as pollution indicator in sediment of Linggi River, Malaysia

Appl Radiat Isot. 2019 Sep:151:116-123. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.05.038. Epub 2019 May 29.

Authors

Md Suhaimi Elias¹, Shariff Ibrahim², Kamarudin Samuding³, Nesamalar Kantasamy², Shamsiah Ab Rahman⁴, Azian Hashim⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Environment, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia; Analytical Chemistry Application Group (ACA), Waste and Environmental Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: mdsuhaimi@nm.gov.my.
² School of Chemistry and Environment, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
³ Environmental Tracer Application Group (E-TAG), Waste and Environmental Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁴ Analytical Chemistry Application Group (ACA), Waste and Environmental Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, 43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

PMID: 31174051
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.05.038

Abstract

A study was carried out to determine the concentrations of rare earth elements (REEs) in Linggi river sediments collected from 113 sampling locations. The sediment analysis was performed by Neutron activation analysis (NAA) and Inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results of Linggi river sediment were normalized to "recent" reference shale values. The means of total concentrations of REEs (ΣREE), light REEs (ΣLREE) and heavy REEs (ΣHREE) in Linggi sediment were 241.2, 219.2, and 22.0 mg/kg, respectively, which indicates enrichment compared to ΣREE, ΣLREE and ΣHREE reference shale values. Results obtained from enrichment factors (EF) show no enrichment to moderate enrichment of Linggi sediments, indicating the sources of REEs pollution originated from natural and land-based activities. A similar pattern was observed by comparing the REEs values of Linggi sediments to other references shale values. Ce (δCe) and Eu (δEu) anomalies indicate Linggi sediments showed positive anomaly of Ce whilst negative anomaly of Eu.

Keywords: ICP-MS; Linggi river; NAA; Rare earth elements; Sediment.

MeSH terms

Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Geologic Sediments / chemistry*
Malaysia
Metals, Rare Earth / analysis*
Neutron Activation Analysis
Water Pollutants, Radioactive / analysis*

Substances

Metals, Rare Earth
Water Pollutants, Radioactive