Determination of rare earth elements in Fe-minerals using external calibration by LA-ICP-MS and application on Cauê Iron Formation (Brazil).

The rare earth elements (REE) composition in Fe-mineral phases is an important tool in iron formation studies to obtain information about parent rocks and environmental and paragenetic processes. However, the determination of REE presents some difficulties, such as the low concentration of these elements, matrix complexity and lack of iron matrix certified reference materials. The aim of the present work is to propose an analytical method to determine the REE plus Y (REE + Y) contents at trace levels in Fe-(hydr)oxides by the laser ablation ICP-quadrupoleMS technique, using external calibration. The calibration curves were obtained from analyses of reference materials with different matrices, and the analytical conditions were checked on the NIST 614 glass. The linearity (R2 ≥ 0.98), limit of detection (0.002-0.044 µg g-1), limit of quantification (0.008-0.146 µg g-1), recovery (88.4-112.4%), and intraday (0.1-14.1%) and interday (1.6-17.8%) precision were systematically assessed. The results obtained showed that the method is fit for the purpose and showed evidence of a nonsignificant interference of the matrix. Thus, the developed procedure was applied in the analyses of magnetite, martite, hematite, and goethite grains from Cauê Iron Formation (Brazil). The REE + Y patterns of the minerals are consistent with the previous study of bulk analyses on whole rocks and highlight the postdepositional signature of these elements in banded iron formations.

Quantification and speciation of mercury in soils from the Tripuí Ecological Station, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Contents of total mercury, organic carbon, total sulfur, iron, aluminum and grain size and clay mineralogy were used along with Pearson's correlation and Hg thermal desorption technique to investigate the presence, distribution and binding behavior of Hg in soils from three depths from the Tripuí Ecological Station, located near Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The soils studied had predominantly medium and fine sand texture (0.59-0.062 mm), acid character and Hg contents ranging from 0.09 to 1.23 microg/g. The granulometric distribution revealed that Hg is associated with coarse sand (2-0.59 mm) and silt and clay (<0.062 mm) and presents similar Hg concentrations in both fractions. Mercury distribution in soil profiles showed that Hg was homogeneously distributed throughout the depths at most sites. Hg thermal desorption curves show that mercury occurs not only as Hg2+ predominantly bound to organic components in most of the samples, but also in the form of cinnabar in some. Pearson's correlation confirmed that mercury is associated with organic matter and sulfur and possibly with sulfur-bearing organic matter in most samples.