69 / 2016-04-29 17:43:10

DETERMINATION OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS (REEs) IN THE SOIL GROWN PLANTS FROM PERAK, MALAYSIA

ex-mining area, malaysia

Six plant species including two monocotyledons (Cyperus rotundus L., Phragmites australis L.), two lower vascular plants (Dicranopteris linearis(Burn) (A,B), Dicranopteris dichotoma), and two dicotyledonous flowering plants (Melastoma malabathricum L., Cyanthillium cinereum L.) and soil on which each plant grew were sampled from ex-mining area in Perak for analysis of rare earth elements (REEs) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The plant samples were divided into root, stem, leaves and flowers to determine the distribution of REEs, their uptake capacity and bioavailability. The work investigates highest amount of cerium (Ce) 425.5 mg kg-1 in soil samples. Light rare earth elements (LREEs) were found in greater concentration in both plants and soil than heavy rare earth elements (HREEs). Our findings suggest Dicranopteris dichotoma, Dicranopteris linearis (Burn) (B), Cyperus rotundus L.and Cyanthillium cinereum L as hyper accumulative for REEs. This study accounts all the REEs but mainly focuses on the LREEs (Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Eu and Gd) with their uptake capacity and accumulation and transfer into other parts of plant species. Transfer factor (TF), bioconcentration factor (BCF) and bioaccumulation factors (BAF) were also calculated to estimate the toxicity of REEs in the mining area. BCF and BAF values found higher than 1 for nearly all REEs.