Abstract
The behavior of multi-elements in water samples from the Fuji and Sagami rivers has been geochemically investigated. Water samples were filtered through 0.45μm hydrophilized PTFE membrane filters and acidified to pH<2 with ultra pure nitric acid. Major and minor and trace elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and mass spectrometry, respectively. Vanadium(V), which exists with sensitive characteristics in igneous rocks showed sensitively and validly the differences in its concentrations between the Fuji River whose geology is mainly andesitic and granitic, and the Sagami River which is mainly basaltic. This result suggested that V can be used as a sensitive indicator to trace the migration of river water and to elucidate the rock types surrounding the sampling locations. Moreover, all elements (Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Ga, Sr, Mo, Cd, Cs, Ba, W, Pb) except V, which do not give sensitive characteristics in igneous rocks also showed obscure characteristics in river waters. The geochemical source classification of multi-element in river waters which reflects the geology was successfully achieved using differences in the distribution areas in relation to the V concentration. These results suggested that the behavior of not only V but also other elements was influenced by the geological nature of the sampling locations.
