Gadolinium Anomaly in the Distributions of Rare Earth Elements Observed for Coastal Seawater and River Waters around Nagoya City

Abstract

Coastal seawater and river water samples were collected near Nagoya port, located in the coastal area of the Ise Bay, and in six rivers around Nagoya City. The rare earth elements (REEs) in these samples were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with chelating resin preconcentration. The concentrations of all REEs except for Pm in coastal seawater and river water samples could be determined at the concentration level from sub-ng L−1 to 10 ng L−1. In order to examine the relative concentration variations, the REE patterns were estimated by normalizing the concentrations of REEs in the water samples to those in Post Archean Average Australian Shale (PAAS). Significantly positive Gd anomalies in the REE patterns were observed for river waters down from the urban areas as well as for coastal seawater. Such Gd anomalies were especially remarkable for river water collected near sewage treatment facilities in the Tenpaku river. It was, thus, concluded that the Gd anomalies in the REE patterns were artificially caused by anthropogenic sources mainly due to recent use of a gadolinium compound as a contrast reagent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in medical diagnosis.

Analysis of Fluorine in Drinking Water by ICP-QMS/QMS with an Octupole Reaction Cell

“…1.5 mg L -1 . It is notable that the analytical figures of merits obtained in the present work were apparently better that those reported by Bu et al, in which the results were obtained with an HR-ICP-MS by measuring the signal of 19 F + . 5 The sensitivity obtained in the present work was apparently higher (about 77 folds) than that obtained by an HR-ICP-MS, which could be attributed to that the formation of 138 Ba 19 F + in the plasma was much easier than 19 F + .…”

“…From the viewpoint that the concentration of Gd was extremely low (under the LDL of commercial ICP-MS instrument) in natural drinking water samples, [18][19][20] the overlap of 157 Gd + with 138 Ba 19 F + was negligible, and is not discussed in the present work. Further optimization of the operating conditions might be required for the application to samples containing a high concentration of Gd.…”

“…The RF power of 1300 was selected as the optimum condition for the measurement of 138 Ba 19 On the other hand, the standard-to-blank signal intensity ratio increased when the sampling depth increased from 3.5 to 6.5 mm. In contrast, a further increase of the sampling depth over 8.0 mm resulted in a decrease of the standard-to-blank signal intensity ratio.…”

Effects of exposure to gadolinium on the development of geographically and phylogenetically distant sea urchins species

“…Gd pollution is measured as "the Gd anomaly", calculated as the ratio of the measured Gd concentration in a sample with respect to the background levels of Gd due to geological processes. Positive Gd anomalies were observed in several rivers, lakes and in seawater from different locations (Bau and Dulski, 1996;Nozaki et al, 2000;Elbaz-Poulichet et al, 2002;Zhu et al, 2004;Ogata and Terakado, 2006;Kulaksiz and Bau, 2007). The Gd anomaly is determined using only the total Gd concentration, without information about the speciation of the Gd present in the sample (Bau and Dulski, 1996).…”

Rare earth element abundances in some seawaters and related river waters from the Osaka Bay area, Japan: Significance of anthropogenic Gd

“…Recently evidence for Gd (gadolinium) contamination of anthropogenic origin has been found in some river waters and some seawaters (Bau and Dulski, 1996;Nozaki et al, 2000;Möller et al, 2000;Kümmerer, 2001;ElbazPoulichet et al, 2002;Zhu et al, 2004;Verplanck et al, 2005). Those relatively high Gd concentrations are attributed to the Gd chelates used as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrast agents in medical use (e.g., Bünzli and Choppin, 1989).…”