Rare Earth Elements in Acidic Systems – Biotic and Abiotic Impacts

High-resolution temporal monitoring of rare earth elements in acidic drainages from an abandoned sulphide mine (iberian pyrite belt, Spain)

Rare earth elements (REE) are strategic elements due to their economic importance. However, the studies dedicated to the distribution and behaviour of REE in aquatic systems have been scarce until a few decades ago. This work studies the seasonal variations of REE concentrations in acid mine drainage (AMD) affected water courses and the factors controlling their mobility under different hydrological conditions. To address this issue, a high-resolution sampling was performed for two years in selected sampling sites. REE concentrations were very high (median values of 2.7-3.4 mg/L, maximum of 7.0 mg/L). These values are several orders of magnitude higher than those found in natural waters, highlighting the importance of AMD processes on the release of REE to the hydrosphere. No good correlations were found between pH and REE concentration, while REE correlated positively (r Spearman coefficient of 0.78-0.94) with EC and negatively (r -0.88 to -0.90) with discharge in AMD-affected streams. A conservative behaviour of REE was observed due to the strongly acidic conditions observed in the study area. The waters also showed an enrichment in MREEs over LREEs and HREEs (mean values of GdN/LaN>1.8 and YbN/GdN < 0.7), typical of AMD waters. An asymmetry in the content of LREE and HREE was observed in AMD samples studied, which could be explained by the preferential dissolution of LREE or HREE-enriched minerals within each waste heaps. Multivariate analysis suggests the influence of Mn-rich minerals existent in the study area as a potential source of LREE.

Rare earth elements in a historical mining district (south-west Spain): Hydrogeochemical behaviour and seasonal variability

This work deals with the distribution of rare earth elements (REE) in the abandoned Tharsis mines under different hydrological conditions. High concentrations of REE were observed; mean value of 1747 μg/L. The highest concentrations of REE were recorded during the dry period (DP, mean of 2220 μg/L) due to high evaporation and strong water-rock interactions. However, some sampling points showed the highest REE concentrations during the wet period (WP) due to the washing out of large dumps during intense rainfall. The concentration of REE shows a positive correlation with electrical conductivity (EC) and a negative correlation with pH because more acidic conditions enhance dissolution of minerals. However, the highest concentrations of REE occurred in samples with intermediate levels of metal pollution and EC values. The highest correlations of middle REE (MREE) and heavy REE (HREE) occurred with elements related to hydrothermal mineralisation of Mn and Ni, associated with sulphide deposits. The normalised patterns of the AMD sources showed an enrichment of MREE over light REE (LREE) and HREE in all samples. The use of REE patterns as geochemical tracers confirmed the conservative behaviour of REE in the fluvial network, that is, they are not affected by the precipitation of mineral phases. The quantification of REE released from AMD sources to water bodies reveals that, although the highest concentrations occur during the DP, the main load of REE occurs during the WP, due to the highest discharges, with 6.62 kg/day of LREE, 1.12 kg/day of MREE, and 0.54 kg/day of HREE.

Variations of anthropogenic gadolinium in rivers close to waste water treatment plant discharges

Rare earth element (REE) concentrations were determined for 22 sites sampled during two water periods: high flow in winter and low flow in summer. Shale-normalized REE patterns of all samples displayed positive gadolinium (Gd) anomalies. They revealed a widespread contamination of anthropogenic Gd (Gd_ant) from waste water treatment plant (WWTP) outputs to catchment areas used for drinking water. No significant variations in Gd_ant were observed between the two flow water periods, but differences in the Gd anomalies were present. However, these differences seem to be associated rather with seasonal variations in the river flow rate than with the release of Gd_Ant from WWTPs. In proximity to WWTP discharges, strong Gd_Ant variations ranged from few nanograms per litre to more than 80 μg L^-1 and rarely showed a repetitive pattern day after day during 14 days. These concentrations were diluted into the river stream and measured around 10 ng L^-1 close to the catchment areas used for drinking water. A principal component analysis (PCA) using the Gd_Ant concentrations and some classical physicochemical parameters (pH, water temperature, total alkalinity (TA), total organic carbon (TOC), biochemical and chemical oxygen demand (BOD and COD), Cl^-, NO₃^- and SO₄^2-) allowed a site separation according to the level of Gd contamination, highlighting that the highest Gd_Ant concentrations were found in the north of the region Lorraine (France) where the population density is high and most of the MRI examinations are performed.

Origin of middle rare earth element enrichment in acid mine drainage-impacted areas

The commonly observed enrichment of middle rare earth elements (MREE) in water sampled in acid mine drainage (AMD)-impacted areas was found to be the result of preferential release from the widespread mineral pyrite (FeS2). Three different mining-impacted sites in Europe were sampled for water, and various pyrite samples were used in batch experiments with diluted sulphuric acid simulating AMD-impacted water with high sulphate concentration and high acidity. All water samples independent on their origin from groundwater, creek water or lake water as well as on the surrounding rock types showed MREE enrichment. Also the pyrite samples showed MREE enrichment in the respective acidic leachate but not always in their total contents indicating a process-controlled release. It is discussed that most probably complexation to sulphite (SO3 (2-)) or another intermediate S-species during pyrite oxidation is the reason for the MREE enrichment in the normalized REE patterns.

Rare earth metals are essential for methanotrophic life in volcanic mudpots

Growth of Methylacidiphilum fumariolicum SolV, an extremely acidophilic methanotrophic microbe isolated from an Italian volcanic mudpot, is shown to be strictly dependent on the presence of lanthanides, a group of rare earth elements (REEs) such as lanthanum (Ln), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr) and neodymium (Nd). After fractionation of the bacterial cells and crystallization of the methanol dehydrogenase (MDH), it was shown that lanthanides were essential as cofactor in a homodimeric MDH comparable with one of the MDHs of Methylobacterium extorquens AM1. We hypothesize that the lanthanides provide superior catalytic properties to pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)-dependent MDH, which is a key enzyme for both methanotrophs and methylotrophs. Thus far, all isolated MxaF-type MDHs contain calcium as a catalytic cofactor. The gene encoding the MDH of strain SolV was identified to be a xoxF-ortholog, phylogenetically closely related to mxaF. Analysis of the protein structure and alignment of amino acids showed potential REE-binding motifs in XoxF enzymes of many methylotrophs, suggesting that these may also be lanthanide-dependent MDHs. Our findings will have major environmental implications as metagenome studies showed (lanthanide-containing) XoxF-type MDH is much more prominent in nature than MxaF-type enzymes.