Abstract
Nowadays rare earth elements (REEs) are widely applied in high-technology and clean energy products, but their environmental risks are still largely unknown. To estimate the ecological risk of REEs, soil samples were collected from REE mine tailings with and without phytoremediation. The results showed that the tailings had rather low organic matter and high total REE concentrations, up to 808.5 mg/kg. The 10% effective concentration (EC10) of neodymium (Nd) and yttrium (Y) were calculated based on the toxicity tests of seed germination and root growth. For both wheat and mung bean, the EC10 of Nd and Y in soils were in the range of 1053.1–1300.1 mg/kg. The average hazard quotient of mine tailing soil without phytoremediation was higher than that with phytoremediation. All the hazard quotient of Nd and Y were less than 1, indicating that Nd or Y alone was unlikely to cause adverse ecological effects. Given to the coexistence of REEs on mine sites, the ecological risk of REE mixture could be potentially high towards local soil environments, even for soils with phytoremdiation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ali H, Khan E, Sajad MA (2013) Phytoremediation of heavy metals—Concepts and applications. Chemosphere 91:869–881
Cornell DH (1993) Rare earths from supernova to superconductor. Pure Appl Chem 65:2453–2464
Franzluebbers AJ (2002) Soil organic matter stratification ratio as an indicator of soil quality. Soil Tillage Res 66:95–106
Fu Y, Li F, Xu T, Cai S, Chu W, Qiu H, Sha S, Cheng G, Xu Q (2014) Bioaccumulation, subcellular, and molecular localization and damage to physiology and ultrastructure in Nymphoides peltata (Gmel.) O. Kuntze exposed to yttrium. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21:2935–2942
González V, Vignati DAL, Pons M-N, Montarges-Pelletier E, Bojic C, Giamberini L (2015) Lanthanide ecotoxicity: first attempt to measure environmental risk for aquatic organisms. Environ Pollut 199:139–147
Li J, Verweij RA, van Gestel CAM (2018) Lanthanum toxicity to five different species of soil invertebrates in relation to availability in soil. Chemosphere 193:412–420
Liu W-S, Guo M-N, Liu C, Yuan M, Chen X-T, Huot H, Zhao C-M, Tang Y-T, Morel JL, Qiu R-L (2019) Water, sediment and agricultural soil contamination from an ion-adsorption rare earth mining area. Chemosphere 216:75–83
López-Bucio J, Nieto-Jacobo MAF, Ramı́rez-Rodrı́guez V, Herrera-Estrella L, (2000) Organic acid metabolism in plants: from adaptive physiology to transgenic varieties for cultivation in extreme soils. Plant Sci 160:1–13
Mani D, Kumar C (2014) Biotechnological advances in bioremediation of heavy metals contaminated ecosystems: an overview with special reference to phytoremediation. Int J Environ Sci Technol 11:843–872
Moreira CG, Carvalho TSD, de Oliveira C, Abreu LBD, Castro ACSD, Ribeiro PG, Bispo FHA, Boutin C, Guilherme LRG (2019) Ecological risk assessment of cerium for tropical agroecosystems. Chemosphere 221:124–131
Müller G (1979) Schwermetalle in den sedimenten des Rheins-Veranderungen seit 1971. Umschau 79:778–783
Pagano G, Guida M, Tommasi F, Oral R (2015) Health effects and toxicity mechanisms of rare earth elements—knowledge gaps and research prospects. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 115:40–48
Pagano G, Guida M, Siciliano A, Oral R, Koçbaş F, Palumbo A, Castellano I, Migliaccio O, Thomas PJ, Trifuoggi M (2016) Comparative toxicities of selected rare earth elements: sea urchin embryogenesis and fertilization damage with redox and cytogenetic effects. Environ Res 147:453–460
Rajkumar M, Sandhya S, Prasad MNV, Freitas H (2012) Perspectives of plant-associated microbes in heavy metal phytoremediation. Biotechnol Adv 30:1562–1574
Tai P, Zhao Q, Su D, Li P, Stagnitti F (2010) Biological toxicity of lanthanide elements on algae. Chemosphere 80:1031–1035
Thomas PJ, Carpenter D, Boutin C, Allison JE (2014) Rare earth elements (REEs): effects on germination and growth of selected crop and native plant species. Chemosphere 96:57–66
USEPA (1997) Ecological risk assessment guidance for superfund: process for designing and conducting ecological risk assessments. EPA 540-R-97-006, New Jersey
USEPA (2012) Rare earth elements: a review of production, processing, recycling, and associated environmental issues. Cincinnati
Wang Z, Zhang X, Mu Y (2008) Effects of rare-earth fertilizers on the emission of nitrous oxide from agricultural soils in China. Atmos Environ 42:3882–3887
Wang L, Wang W, Zhou Q, Huang X (2014) Combined effects of lanthanum(III) chloride and acid rain on photosynthetic parameters in rice. Chemosphere 112:355–361
Wei F, Liu T, Teng N, Rui K (1991) Rare earth elements in Chinese soil. Chin J Environ Sci 12:78–82
Yang XJ, Lin A, Li X-L, Wu Y, Zhou W, Chen Z (2013) China's ion-adsorption rare earth resources, mining consequences and preservation. Environ Dev 8:131–136
Zhang W, Xu M, Wang B, Wang X (2009) Soil organic carbon, total nitrogen and grain yields under long-term fertilizations in the upland red soil of southern China. Nutr Cycl Agroecosys 84:59–69
Zhou L, Li Z, Liu W, Liu S, Zhang L, Zhong L, Luo X, Liang H (2015) Restoration of rare earth mine areas: organic amendments and phytoremediation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22:17151–17160
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan (2018YFC1801100), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21607178).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, CM., Shi, X., Xie, SQ. et al. Ecological Risk Assessment of Neodymium and Yttrium on Rare Earth Element Mine Sites in Ganzhou, China. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 103, 565–570 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-019-02690-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-019-02690-2