Uranium, thorium, lead, lanthanoids and yttrium in some plants growing on granitic and radioactive rocks

• Main Author: I. Yliruokanen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Geological Society of Finland 1975-12-01
• Series: Bulletin of the Geological Society of Finland
• Online Access: http://www.geologinenseura.fi/bulletin/Volume47/sgs_bt_047_pages_071_078.pdf

Spark source mass spectrometry with electrical detection was used for the determination of trace element contents in the ash of 172 plants comprising 21 lichens, 42 mosses, 78 dwarf shrubs and 31 trees. The highest contents found in single samples were 2800 ppm U in one moss, 20 ppm Th in one moss and one lichen, 1200 to 1000 ppm Pb in lichens and mosses and in one Calluna vulgaris, 110 to 100 ppm Y and La in some lichens and mosses and 350 ppm Ce in one moss; the mean contents were usually significantly lower. No anomalies were found in the lanthanoid distribution in these plants and the influence of uranium and lanthanoid mineralizations was detectable only in the immediate vicinity of mineralized spots.