Geochemical Implication of Rare Earth Elements in Process of Soil Development

The geochemical characteristics and behavior of rare earth elements (REE) in soils developed on the basalts in the northern part of Hainan Island erupted in different time were studied as well as the REE partition in the soil formation process and its implication on soil development degree. The results show that the total REE content in soils is correlative with soil age significantly and can be selected as the index to show soil evolution. With the soil developing intensively, light rare earth elements (LREE) gain and heavy rare earth elements (HREE) lose. The trends of positive Ce anomaly and negative Eu anomaly are remarkable with soil development.