Application of the fundamental parameter method to the assessment of major and trace elements in soil and sediments from Osamu Utsumi uranium mine by WDXRF

Abstract

Wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (WDXRF) is a suitable technique for the characterization of contaminated mining sites, providing a quick and reliable screening for areas of significant contamination. This study established and validated a non-destructive methodology for quantitative simultaneous determination of major and minor constituents in soil and sediments by WDXRF, which was further applied to quantify soil and sediment samples from Osamu Utsumi uranium mine (Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil). Elements such as Ce, La, Nd, Mn and U were found in more concentrated levels in the calcium diuranate deposit (DUCA), whereas Fe and Al were found at higher levels in the soil samples corresponding to sites where accentuated leaching processes have occurred. Comparatively, the levels of U and rare-earth elements were found in significantly higher levels in the sediments retrieved from the mine's pit as a result of acid mine drainage. These findings are believed to be useful as an initial environmental assessment for the decommissioning process of the mine.

Soil, water and plants contamination by total chrome and chrome VI

“…The determinations showed the presence of 20 chemical elements in the soil and 22 chemical elements in the sludge. The wide variety of chemical elements found in the sludge, and their high concentrations, are mainly due to three factors: the chemicals use of during the treatment of the effluent, the use of chemicals for the characterization of soils and natural elements found in soils (Guilhen et al, 2019).…”

“…For calibration, the A‐750 standard was used, which aims to correct the absorption effects and calibrate the spectral lines of the determined elements. This calibration standard used is composed of an alloy of aluminum (Al), tin (Sn), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe) and copper (Cu), which allows the determination of the composition of the analyzed material (Guilhen et al., 2019).…”

Mining waste acting as a precursor of environmental stress in sediments

“…Measurements were performed on powdered sediment samples (4 g, < 63 μm fractions) packed in specific containers covered with 2.5 μm thick mylar film, under He atmosphere, in the Quant Express routine. GUILHEN et al, 2019;OYEDOTUN, 2018). A total of 45 WD-XRF analyses were performed on the fine fractions of 15 composite sediment samples from the Várzea river, and the results were accepted as consistent according to the level of confidence for environmental matrices (INMETRO, 2018;SILVA et al, 2019).…”

“…Mineral extraction activities affect the environmental quality of adjacent water systems, causing deleterious changes to ecosystems (BECK et al, 2020;GLOAGUEN;MOTTA;COUTO, 2021;KUSIN et al, 2019;SILVA et al, 2019). In these activities, the environmental contamination results from the rainwater ability to fractionate, solubilize and transport minerals and inorganic compounds (metals, semimetals, and non-metals) found in the tailings from mining (AMOSOVA et al, 2019;BESSA et al, 2020;GUILHEN et al, 2019;SILVA et al, 2019).…”

Magnesium-based alloys analyses by nuclear techniques

“…The 2-theta scan model was applied data acquisition. The Compton and fundamental parameters (FP) method were applied for correction of the absorption/excitation effects [18]. The parameters such as excitation, emission line, divergence slit, diffracting crystal, type of detector, scan counting time, and Bragg's positions are shown in Table 1.…”