The geochemical characteristics of rare earth elements (REEs) can be employed to identify the anthropogenic and natural influence on the distributions of REEs in soils. A total of 47 soil samples from the three soil profiles of the secondary forest land, abandoned cropland, and shrubland in the Yinjiang county of Guizhou province, southwest China, were collected to determine the contents and distribution of REEs in the soil environment. The total REEs (ΣREE) contents in different soil profiles are in the following sequence: secondary forest land (mean: 204.59 mg·kg-1) > abandoned cropland (mean: 186.67 mg·kg-1) > shrubland (mean: 139.50 mg·kg-1). The ratios of (La/Gd)N and (Gd/Yb)N ranged from 0.62 to 1.00 and 1.18 to 2.16, which indicated that the enrichment of the medium rare earth elements (MREEs) was more obvious than that of the light rare earth elements (LREEs) and the heavy rare earth elements (HREEs). The phenomenon could be attributed to the preferential absorption of MREEs by fine particles and the substitution of Ca2+ by MREEs. Most soil samples were characterized by the negative Ce anomalies (anomalies values: 0.30-1.10) and positive Eu anomalies (anomalies values: 0.43-2.90). The contents of REEs in the profiles of secondary forest land and shrubland were mainly regulated by soil pH and Fe contents while clay content and agricultural activities were the main controlling factors in the soil profile of abandoned cropland. This study highlights the role of agricultural activities in affecting the distributions of REEs in karst soils, which could provide some insights for the protection of the soil environment.
Keywords: karst catchment; land-use types; rare earth elements (REEs); soil profile; southwest China.