The seasonal variations in the interactions between rare earth elements and organic matter in tropical rivers

The escalation of global demands for critical minerals to facilitate the green energy transition creates emerging needs to better understand their environmental behaviours. Several nations recognize rare earth elements (REEs) as priority critical minerals and emphasize the necessity to evaluate their environmental mobility and potential effects on natural ecosystems and human health. Here, we investigated the seasonal variations in dissolved concentrations of REEs and their leachable fractions from suspended particles in samples collected bi-weekly from the Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers in Southern Vietnam. The investigation period extended over sixteen months, including a transition from wet to dry seasons. We reported significant mobility of REEs in the river waters during the wet season due to watershed runoff, especially in Sai Gon River with the occurrence of acid sulphate soils. Dissolved REE concentrations in the dry season were significantly lower because of the interactions with organic-rich particles (up to 13% of particulate organic carbon, POC) mainly derived from phytoplankton materials. The conditional distribution coefficients (logKD from 5 to 7 for Pr) were proportional to POC content. The scavenging capacity of particulate organic matter also led to affect the fractionation between light REEs and heavy REEs in solution, and the characteristic Middle REE-enrichment patterns for the leachable REEs fraction. We also reported significant Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* up to 7) in the Dong Nai River during the dry season and associated this observation with the decomposition of organic matter that previously accumulated Eu. However, further studies are required to confirm this hypothesis because of small reservoir effects; elevated Eu anomalies were observed in water samples with low dissolved Eu concentrations.

Automated summary

The study investigates the seasonal variations in dissolved concentrations of rare earth elements (REEs) in two rivers in Southern Vietnam and finds significant mobility of REEs during the wet season due to watershed runoff. The dissolved REE concentrations in the dry season are significantly lower but interact more with organic-rich particles. Further observations include the fractionation between light and heavy REEs and the anomalies of Eu in the dry season.