Rare earth distribution in Batu Melintang Granitic Rocks, Jeli, Kelantan

Abstract

Rare Earth Element (REE) is a group of elements that consisting of 17 metallic elements that that occur together in the periodic table, 15 lanthanides (La), Scandium (Sc) and Yttrium (Y). REE can be divided into two groups based on atomic weight which are the light REEs are lanthanum through gadolinium (atomic numbers 57 through 64); the heavy REEs comprise terbium through lutetium (atomic numbers 65 through 71). This paper investigates the distribution of Heavy REE and Light REE in granite rock in Batu Melintang, Jeli, Kelantan. This study employed Induced Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the distribution of rare earth elements. According to the findings, the research region has been found to contain 16 REE elements (Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er Tm, Yb, Lu), with LREE distribution being greater than HREE in the granite rocks of Batu Melintang. LREE with concentration ranging from as low as 2285.53 ppb to as high as 35888.32 ppb with Ce and La being the most abundant LREE in the samples. While for HREE, the concentration ranged from 4479.72 ppb to 11,457.67 ppb, and abundance of Y, Yb, and Sc was found to be the highest in the HREE group.