EVIDENCE FOR FRACTIONATION OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS DURING SOIL FORMATION ALONG FEATHER RIVER BASIN HILLSLOPES IN THE CALIFORNIA SIERRA NEVADA

Are rare earth elements (REE) immobile or do they fractionate overtime? This study presents soil data from an ongoing study that examines how REEs fractionate as rock weathers into soil. The Middle Fork Feather River in Northern California, the location of the study site, takes advantage of an erosional signal propagating through the basin and compares traditional methods of REE normalization then contrasts them with elemental losses based on mass balance calculations (tau). Analyzed by ICP-MS using the whole-rock Li-borate dissolution method, soil sample collection took place along two differentially eroding hill slopes (a shallow slope above the knick-point and a more inclined slope below the knick-point). Using Zr as an immobile element, the mass-balance method clearly portrays REE fractionation occurring within the soils, whereas traditional REE normalization patterns do not clearly display fractionation relative to the parent material. While REEs fractionate approximately to the same extent in the topmost soils of both hill slopes, the more actively eroding hill slope fractionates REEs faster because of a faster rate of soil chemical weathering. While the full meaning of this work is still underway, current progress indicates that significant REE fractionation occurs during chemical weathering, implying that using REEs as tracers for surfaces processes requires significant care.