Application of rare earth elements for water source discrimination in Renlou coal mine, northern Anhui Province, China

摘要

Rare earth element (REEs) concentrations were measured for groundwater and wall rock samples from two aquifers (sandstone and limestone aquifers) in Renlou coal mine, northern Anhui Province, China. The results indicate that groundwater from these two aquifers are rich in REEs as expressed by their Nd concentrations (0.012 and 0.008 μg/L). They all show heavy REEs enrichment with low Nd_(RN)/Yb_(RN) ratios (0.35 and 0.40) when normalized to their aquifer rocks. Y- Ho fractionation are only observed for groundwater from limestone aquifer with high Y/Ho ratio (97 in average), whereas groundwater from sandstone aquifer have low Y/Ho ratios (24 in average). The former is considered to be related to the release of Y and Ho from calcite with different partition coefficient. The similarity of some REEs between groundwater and aquifer rock, as well as the different rock composition of aquifers, provide possibility for discrimination of water sources by using REEs, and Y/Ho ratios and Eu anomalies are expected to be useful in Renlou coal mine.