Involvement of plants in soil formation - an approach using REE geochemistry -

Abstract

We measured REE concentration of soil and vegetation samples at several points of a rolling land, and discussed the relationship between soil formation and vegetation in terms of REE patterns. The chondrite-normarized pattern of soil from O-horizon, A-horizon and non-silicate fraction of the soil from the A-horizon showed relatively linear and HREE depleted patterns, but the silicate fraction of A-horizon did not. The results were interpreted that 1) vegetation absorbed REE from silicate in soil of B-horizon, and that 2) the silicate fraction in the soil of A-horizon is composed of residual components left unincorporated by local vegetation.