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Anthropogenic gadolinium anomalies and rare earth elements in the water of Atibaia River and Anhumas Creek, Southeast Brazil

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Abstract

The concentrations of rare earth elements (REE), measured in water samples from Atibaia River and its tributary Anhumas Creek, Brazil, present excess of dissolved gadolinium. Such anthropogenic anomalies of Gd in water, already described in other parts of the world, result from the use of stable and soluble Gd chelates as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging. Atibaia River constitutes the main water supply of Campinas Metropolitan area, and its basin receives wastewater effluents. The REE concentrations in water samples were determined in 0.22-μm pore size filtered samples, without and after preconcentration by solid-phase extraction with bis-(2-ethyl-hexyl)-phosphate. This preconcentration method was unable to retain the anthropogenic Gd quantitatively. The probable reason is that the Gd chelates dissociate slowly in acidic media to produce the free ion that is retained by the phosphate ester. Strong correlations between Gd and constituents or parameters associated with effluents confirmed the source of most Gd in water samples as anthropogenic. The shale-normalized REE patterns of Atibaia River and Anhumas Creek water samples showed light and heavy REE enrichment trends, respectively. Also, positive Ce anomalies in many Atibaia River samples, as well as the strong correlations of the REE (except Gd) with terrigenous elements, imply that inorganic colloidal particles contributed to the REE measured values.

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Acknowledgments

FFC and JE acknowledge, respectively, a scholarship (Proc. Nr. 2012/02486-5) and a research grant (Proc. Nr. 2012/05024-2) from São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). JE acknowledges the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for scholarship grants (Proc. Nr. 306275/2009-0 and 312507/2013-5). The authors are responsible for the content of this paper. The authors are grateful to Prof. Dr. Michael Bau and his group for receiving FFC in his laboratory and generously teaching him the essentials of the REE preconcentration procedure. The authors thank Dr. Cleonice Rocha for providing the DOC analytical data.

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  1. Francisco Ferreira de Campos

    Present address: Geological Survey of Brazil, Rua Costa 55, CEP 01304-010, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

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  1. Institute of Geosciences, University of Campinas, UNICAMP, C.P. 6152, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Francisco Ferreira de Campos & Jacinta Enzweiler

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de Campos, F.F., Enzweiler, J. Anthropogenic gadolinium anomalies and rare earth elements in the water of Atibaia River and Anhumas Creek, Southeast Brazil. Environ Monit Assess 188, 281 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5282-7

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