RT Journal Article
T1 Origin of rare earth elements in acid mine drainage traced by strontium and neodymium isotopes
A1 León Cortegano, Rafael
A1 Macías Suárez, Francisco
A1 Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
A1 Millán Becerro, Ricardo
A1 Romero Matos, Jonatan
A1 Nieto Liñán, José Miguel
A1 Romero Matos, Jonatan
AB Acid mine drainage (AMD) generated from coal and sulfide mining has attracted much interest due to the highconcentrations of rare earth elements (REE) observed. However, the origin of REE in AMD and particularly themechanism of enrichment in medium REE remain uncertain. The combined study of Sr and Nd isotopes can beused to trace the processes that control the mobility and fractionation of REE in aquatic systems such as AMD.This work reports for the first time worldwide isotopic data of Sr and Nd in AMDs from sulfide mining (IberianPyrite Belt, SW Spain) and compare with those in host rocks. Additionally, leaching experiments have beencarried out to simulate the water–rock interactions found in these acidic systems. The results obtained stronglysuggest that the origin of REE in AMDs from metal mining may be related to the preferential dissolution of shalesand felsic rocks. The suitability of Sr and Nd isotopic signatures to trace the REE source in AMD-affected systemshas been proven, it provides a new environmental and geochemical prospecting tool which could be useful indifferent geological water–rock interaction systems.
PB Elsevier
SN 0016-7037
SN 1872-9533 (electrónico)
YR 2024
FD 2024-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/23794
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/23794
LA eng
NO León, R., Macías, F., R. Cánovas, C., Millán-Becerro, R., Romero-Matos, J., & Nieto, J. M. (2024). Origin of rare earth elements in acid mine drainage traced by strontium and neodymium isotopes. In Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (Vol. 372, pp. 101–110). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2024.03.025
NO This research was supported by the AIHODIEL project (PYC20 RE032 UHU) co-financed by the FEDER program in Andalucía for theperiod 2014–2020, LIFEWATCH-INDALO project, and ERA-MIN3SuMRee project (PCI2024-153500), financed by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR.C.R Cánovas thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation forthe Postdoctoral Fellowship granted under application referenceRYC2019–027949-I. Jonatan Romero-Matos is financed by a FPU programof the Spanish Ministry of Education of Vocational Training(FPU20/04441). Ricardo Millán-Becerro also acknowledges the SpanishMinistry of Universities for the Margarita Salas Research Grant. Fundingfor open access charge: Universidad de Huelva/CBUA. We would alsolike to thank Jeffrey G. Catalano (Editor-in-Chief), Melanie Davranche(Associate Editor), and anonymous reviewers for the support and suggestionsthat significantly improved the quality of the original paper.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026