Rare earth elements (REEs): geochemical patterns and contamination aspects in Brazilian benchmark soils.

Rare earth elements have been increasingly used in modern societies and soils are likely to be the final destination of several REE-containing (by)products. This study reports REE contents for topsoils (0-20 cm) of 175 locations in reference (n = 68) and cultivated (n = 107) areas in Brazil. Benchmark soil samples were selected accomplishing a variety of environmental conditions, aiming to: i) establishing natural background and anthropogenic concentrations for REE in soils; ii) assessing potential contamination of soils - via application of phosphate fertilizers - with REE; and, iii) predicting soil-REE contents using biomes, soil type, parent material, land use, sand content, and biomes-land use interaction as forecaster variables through generalized least squares multiple regression. Our hypotheses were that the variability of soil-REE contents is influenced by parent material, pedogenic processes, land use, and biomes, as well as that cultivated soils may have been potentially contaminated with REE via input of phosphate fertilizers. The semi-total concentrations of REE were assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) succeeding a microwave-assisted aqua regia digestion. Analytical procedures followed a rigorous QA/QC protocol. Soil physicochemical composition and total oxides were also determined. Natural background and anthropogenic concentrations for REE were established statistically from the dataset by the median plus two median absolute deviations method. Contamination aspects were assessed by REE-normalized patterns, REE fractionation indices, and Ce and Eu anomalies ratios, as well as enrichment factors. The results indicate that differences in the amounts of REE in cultivated soils can be attributed to land use and agricultural sources (e.g., phosphate-fertilizer inputs), while those in reference soils can be attributed to parent materials, biomes, and pedogenic processes. The biomes, land use, and sand content helped to predict concentrations of light REE in Brazilian soils, with parent material being also of special relevance to predict heavy REE contents in particular.

Modeling arsenic content in Brazilian soils: What is relevant?

Arsenic accumulation in the environment poses ecological and human health risks. A greater knowledge about soil total As content variability and its main drivers is strategic for maintaining soil security, helping public policies and environmental surveys. Considering the poor history of As studies in Brazil at the country's geographical scale, this work aimed to generate predictive models of topsoil As content using machine learning (ML) algorithms based on several environmental covariables representing soil forming factors, ranking their importance as explanatory covariables and for feeding group analysis. An unprecedented databank based on laboratory analyses (including rare earth elements), proximal and remote sensing, geographical information system operations, and pedological information were surveyed. The median soil As content ranged from 0.14 to 41.1 mg kg-1 in reference soils, and 0.28 to 58.3 mg kg-1 in agricultural soils. Recursive Feature Elimination Random Forest outperformed other ML algorithms, ranking as most important environmental covariables: temperature, soil organic carbon (SOC), clay, sand, and TiO2. Four natural groups were statistically suggested (As content ± standard error in mg kg-1): G1) with coarser texture, lower SOC, higher temperatures, and the lowest TiO2 contents, has the lowest As content (2.24 ± 0.50), accomplishing different environmental conditions; G2) organic soils located in floodplains, medium TiO2 and temperature, whose As content (3.78 ± 2.05) is slightly higher than G1, but lower than G3 and G4; G3) medium contents of As (7.14 ± 1.30), texture, SOC, TiO2, and temperature, representing the largest number of points widespread throughout Brazil; G4) the largest contents of As (11.97 ± 1.62), SOC, and TiO2, and the lowest sand content, with points located mainly across Southeastern Brazil with milder temperature. In the absence of soil As content, a common scenario in Brazil and in many Latin American countries, such natural groups could work as environmental indicators.

Ecological risk assessment of cerium for tropical agroecosystems.

Cerium (Ce) is present in high technology materials and in mineral P fertilizers and the use and discharge of such resources may change the natural status of Ce in the soil environment. Brazilian soils in farming areas are significantly exposed to increased levels of unintentionally-added Ce through intensive input of phosphate fertilizers. The aims of this study were to evaluate the ecotoxicological risk to plants growing in tropical soils contaminated with Ce, as well as to create a database to support future legislation regulating the limits of this element in Brazilian and conceivably other tropical soils. Eight crop species (corn, sorghum, rice, wheat, soybeans, sunflower, radish, and beans) were exposed to a Ce concentration gradient in two typical tropical soils (Oxisol and Inceptsol), and an artificial soil. Our findings showed that among the endpoints measured, Ce phytotoxicity was more pronounced on shoot dry matter than on percent germination and germination speed index. Sensitivity of plants is species specific and our data showed that sunflower and radish exposed to Ce were the most sensitive crop species. Soil properties such as pH, cation exchange capacity, and organic carbon may have influenced the severity of Ce phytotoxicity. Because of that, the Oxisol contaminated with this element caused higher phytotoxicity than the other soils tested. Our risk assessment results (hazardous concentration, HC5 = 281.6 mg Ce kg-1) support the idea that unintentional Ce input through P fertilizers does not pose a risk to soils of Brazilian agroecosystems.

Época de maturação, dispersão, colheita e qualidade fisiológica de sementes de sempre-viva (Syngonanthus elegans (Bong. ) Ruhland) / Maturation time, dispersion, crop and physiological quality of star flowers (Syngonanthus elegans (Bong. ) Ruhland) seeds

Neste trabalho, objetivou-se avaliar a época de maturação, dispersão, colheita e a qualidade fisiológica de sementes de sempreviva (Syngonanthus elegans (Bong.) Ruhland), em Diamantina, MG. Capítulos de S. elegans foram colhidos em cinco épocas (20/06/ 05, 20/07/05, 20/08/05, 20/09/05 e 20/10/05) em três locais de produção natural, dentro do Campus da UFVJM em um Neossolo Quartzarênico Órtico Típico (locais 1 e 2) e Neossolo Quartzarênico Hidromórfico Típico (local 3) e, posteriormente, submetidos a testes para avaliação do vigor e germinação das sementes. A qualidade fisiológica de sementes de S. elegans variou em função da época e local de colheita. Estratégias de manejo devem ser realizadas como a colheita após o início do período de dispersão das sementes (junho a outubro) e com os capítulos totalmente abertos.

The aims of this work were to evaluate the maturation time, dispersion, crop and the physiological quality seeds of star flowers (Syngonanthus elegans (Bong.) Ruhland), in Diamantina, MG. S. elegans Chapters were picked up in five times (20/06/05, 20/07/05, 20/ 08/05, 20/09/05 and 20/10/05) in three places of natural production, inside the Campus of UFVJM in a Neossolo Quartzarênico Órtico Típico (places 1 e 2) and Neossolo Quartzarênico Hidromórfico Típico (place 3) and after submitted to the germination and vigor tests. Physiological quality of seeds of S. elegans were affected by time and crop place. Crop management should be accomplished as the harvest after the beginning of the period of dispersion of seeds (june to october) and with the chapters totally open.