A 43 cm long E271 sediment core collected near the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 13°N were studied to investigate the origin of smectite for understanding better the geochemical behavior of hydrothermal material after deposition. E271 sediments are typical metalliferous sediments. After removal of organic matter, carbonate, biogenic opal, and Fe-Mn oxide by a series of chemical procedures, clay minerals (<2 μm) were investigated by X-ray diffraction, chemical analysis and Si isotope analysis. Due to the influence of seafloor hydrothermal activity and close to continent, the sources of clay minerals are complex. Illite, chlorite and kaolinite are suggested to be transported from either North or Central America by rivers or winds, but smectite is authigenic. It is enriched in iron, and its contents are highest in clay minerals. Data show that smectite is most likely formed by the reaction of hydrothermal Fe-oxyhydroxide with silica and seawater in metalliferous sediments. The Si that participates in this reaction may be derived from siliceous microfossils (diatoms or radiolarians), hydrothermal fluids, or detrital mineral phases. And their δ³⁰Si values are higher than those of authigenic smectites, which implies that a Si isotope fractionation occurs during the formation because of the selective absorption of light Si isotopes onto Fe-oxyhydroxides. Sm/Fe mass ratios (a proxy for overall REE/Fe ratio) in E271 clay minerals are lower than those in metalliferous sediments, as well as distal hydrothermal plume particles and terrigenous clay minerals. This result suggests that some REE are lost during the smectite formation, perhaps because their large ionic radii of REE scavenged by Fe-oxyhydroxides preclude substitution in either tetrahedral or octahedral lattice sites of this mineral structure, which decreases the value of metalliferous sediments as a potential resource for REE.

REE concentrations and distribution patterns in the different phases of water-sediment interface system at deep ocean floor were studied on the basis of samples of bottom water,sediments,interstitial water and polymetallic nodules collected from the East Pacific Basin by R/V Haiyaag 4 during HY4-871 and HY4-881 Cruises.It is suggested that RED concentrations in oxic interstitial water are lower than that in bottom water,REE contents of polymetallic nodules,except Ce,are similar to that of sediments.Bottom water,sediments and interstitial water are almost the same in REE distribution patterns.MREE enrichment relative to LREE and HREE and negative Ce anomalies,MREE enrichment has been found in polymetallic nodules,and Ce shows positive anomalies.REE contents in sediments increase with depth,and the variations of distribution patterns with depth have not been found.

Hydrothermal chimney is a product of hydrothermal activity on the seabed. Chimney samples dredged from Jade hydrothermal area in Izena depression of the Okinawa Trough, are characterized by relatively enriched light rare earth elements (LREE) and strongly positive Eu anomalies. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd of these samples are exactly between those of seawater and of acidic pumice, averaged at 0.708928 and 0.512292, respectively. These characteristics imply that the main source of hydrothermal sulfide at Jade area is possibly the undersurface acidic rocks. The mineralizing mechanism can be summarized as follows:Large amount of mineralized material would be leached out and LREE-enriched hydrothermal solution would be subsequently produced as a result of thermo-chemical exchange reaction between acidic volcanic rocks and heated seawater that penetrated in advance from upper water mass. The spurting out from the seabed and quickly crystallizing in the seawater of hydrothermal solution are responsible for the formation of Cu-Zn sulfide and barite-amorphous SiO₂ minerals that are characterized by enriched LREE and positively strong Eu anomalies.

Locating the quantitized natural sediment fingerprints is an important work for marine sediment dynamics study. The total of 146 sediment samples were collected from the Shelf of the East China Sea and five rivers, including Huanghe (Yellow), Changjiang (Yangtze), Qiantang, Ou and Min River. The sediment grain size and the contents of rare earth elements (REEs) were measured with laser particle size analyzer and ICP-MS technology. The results show that absolute REE content (ΣREE) and the concentration ratio of light REEs to heavy REEs (L/HREE) are different in the sediments among those rivers. There are higher REE contents in being less than 2 m and 2-31 μm fractions in the Changjiang Estuary surface sediments. The REE contents of bulk sediment are dominated by the corresponding values of those leading size-fractions. REE of sediment is higher close to the estuaries and declines seaward on the inner shelf of the East China Sea (ECS). The L/HREE ratio has a tendency of increase southward from 28°N. Hydrodynamic conditions plays a predominate role on spacial distributions of the surficial sediment's REE parameters. In some situations, the currents tend to remove the coarser light grains from initial populations, as well as the deposit of the finer heavy mineral grains. In other situations, the currents will change the ratio of sediment constituents, such as ratio between silts and clays in the sediments. As a result, the various values of REE or L/HREE ratio in different bulk sediments are more affected by the change of size-fractions than source location. Under the long-term stable hydrodynamic environment, i.e., the East China Sea Shelf, new sediment transport model based on the size and density gradation concept may help to understand the spatial distribution patterns of REE parameters.

The REE compositions of hydrothermal deposits and basalt samples from the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) were determined with ICP-MS. The results show that there are significant differences between different types of samples although all samples show relative LREE enrichment. The contents of REE in hydrothermal sulfides and alterated rocks samples are lower (from 7.036×10^-6 to 23.660×10^-6), while those in the white chimney deposits are relatively higher (ranging from 84.496×10^-6 to 103.511×10^-6). Both of them are lower than basalts. Chondrite-normalized REE distribution patterns show that sulfides and alterated rocks samples are characterized by significant positive Eu anomalies. On the contrary, white chimney deposits have obvious negative Eu anomalies, which may be caused by abundant calcite existing in the white chimney samples. Both the content and distribution pattern of REE in sulfides suggest that REE most possibly is originally derived from hydrothermal fluids, but influenced by the submarine reducing ore-forming environment, seawater convection, mineral compositions as well as the constraint of mineral crystallizations.

Ferromanganese nodules and crusts contain relatively high concentration of rare earth elements (REE) and yttrium (REY), with a growing interest in exploitation as an alternative to land-based REY resources. On the basis of comprehensive geochemical approach, the abundance and distribution of REY in the ferromanganese nodules from the South China Sea are analyzed. The results indicate that the REY contents in ferromanganese deposits show a clear geographic regularity. Total REY contents range from 69.1×10^-6 to 2 919.4×10^-6, with an average value of 1 459.5×10^-6. Especially, the enrichment rate of Ce content is high, accounting for almost 60% of the total REY. This REE enrichment is controlled mainly by the sorption of ferromanganese oxides and clay minerals in the nodules and crusts. Moreover, the total REY are higher in ferromanganese deposits of hydrogenous origin than of diagenetic origin. Finally, Light REE (LREE) and heavy REE (HREE) oxides of the ferromanganese deposits in the study area can be classified into four grades:non-enriched type, weakly enriched type, enriched type, and extremely enriched type. According to the classification criteria of rare earth resources, the Xisha and Zhongsha platform-central deep basin areas show a great potential for these rare earth metals.

The major elements, rare earth elements (REE) and trace elements of four basalt samples from central and western Pacific ferromanganese crust provinces have been analyzed using chemical methods and ICP-MS, respectively.The results indicate that the samples have been extensively altered and that the contents of their major elements have changed significantly.However, the similarity of REE partition patterns and trace element contents of basalt samples to those of fresh oceanic island basalts (OIB) indicate that the basalt samples originated as OIB.Because of low-temperature alteration, the contents of Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃, MnO, K₂O and P₂O₅ increased, while MgO and FeO decreased.Active components, such as magnesium and iron, were leached from OIB resulting in the relative enrichment of SiO₂.The leaching of active components can cause the relative enrichment of REE, while the precipitation of LREE-rich ferromanganese oxides in vesicles and fissures not only causes an increase of REE contents, but also induces "fractionation" of LREE and HREE.Based on the enrichment mechanism of REE contents, the theoretical quantities of precipitated ferromanganese oxides and the depleted quantities of active components are calculated:the depleted quantities of active components for the unit mass of fresh basalts vary in the range of 0.15~0.657, and the precipitated quantities of ferromanganese oxides for the unit mass of fresh basalts vary in the range of 0.006~0.042.Of the major elements, the two most depleted are iron, and magnesium, with 18.28%~70.95% of iron and 44.50%~93.94% of magnesium in the fresh basalts was leached out.Theoretical calculation and geochemistry results both indicate that low-temperature alteration of basalts can supply abundant amount of metals to seawater, and may play an important role in ocean metal circulation.

Compared to North American shale composition (NASC),REE contents of sediments from the CC area in the Pacific Ocean are obviously high except that cerium has equal content to that of NASC.Three-valence rare earth elements were completely enriched in phosphate-phase and cerium in iron-phase.Rare earth elements in the sediments were originally derived from seawater.During lithigenic and minerogenic processes of metalliferous nodules,three-valence rare earth elements in sediments mobilized and incorporated into sediments as authigenous biogenic-apatite,while cerium had change from Ce³⁺ to Ce⁴⁺ and directly precipitated from seawater and entered metalliferous nodules and caused Ceanomalies in REE pattern in sediments.

The tephra layers in multiple sediment cores from the offshore region of the Mahanadi basin in the northern Bay of Bengal were investigated for possible volcanic sources. The glass shards from those tephra layers were studied for size distribution, texture, and elemental geochemistry to establish chronostratigraphic markers for regional and global Quaternary correlation. The textural features of fine-grained (silty) volcanic glasses suggest the distal source of these tephra deposits. Major element composition with elevated SiO₂ contents ranging between 75%–76% and dominance of K₂O (> 4.5%) over CaO (< 0.9%) suggest ashes have originated from siliceous rhyolitic melts, similar to the petrographic composition of tephra from the Toba volcano. The bulk trace element compositions of the same glass shards were comparable with those reported in the youngest Toba tephra reported elsewhere. Likewise, the LREE-dominated chondrite normalized REE profiles of tephra from the Mahanadi basin closely resemble the characteristic REE patterns in Toba ash from other parts of the Indian Ocean and thus confirmed the contribution of the youngest Toba super-eruption for this ash layers.

A geochemical analysis of rare-earth elements (REEs) in 97 samples collected from the core of deep-water Well LS-A located at the Lingnan Low Uplift Area of the Qiongdongnan Basin is conducted, with the purpose of revealing the changes of sedimentary source and environment in the study region since Oligocene and evaluating the response of geochemical characteristics of REEs to the tectonic evolution. In the core samples, both ΣREE and ΣLREE (LREE is short for light-group REEs) fluctuate in a relatively wide range, while ΣHREE (HREE is short for heavy-group REEs) maintains a relatively stable level. With the stratigraphic chronology becoming newer, both ΣREE and ΣLREE show a gradually rising trend overall. The ΣREE of the core is relatively high from the bottom of Yacheng Formation (at a well depth of 4 207 m) to the top of Ledong Formation, and the REEs show partitioning characteristics of the enrichment of LREE, the stable content of HREE, and the negative anomaly of Eu to varying degrees. Overall the geochemical characteristics of REEs are relatively approximate to those of China's neritic sediments and loess, with significant “continental orientation”. The ΣREE of the core is relatively low in the lower part of Yacheng Formation (at a well depth of 4 207-4 330 m), as shown by the REEs partitioning characteristics of the depletion of LREE, the relative enrichment of HREE, and the positive anomaly of Eu; the geochemical characteristics of REEs are approximate to those of oceanic crust and basalt overall, indicating that the provenance is primarily composed of volcanic eruption matters. As shown by the analyses based on sequence stratigraphy and mineralogy, the provenance in study region in the early Oligocene mainly resulted from the volcanic materials of the peripheral uplift areas; the continental margin materials from the north contributed only insignificantly; the provenance developed to a certain extent in the late Oligocene. Since the Miocene, the provenance has ceaselessly expanded from proximal to distal realm, embodying a characteristic of multi-source sedimentation. In the core strata with 31.5, 28.4, 25.5, 23, and 16 Ma from today, the geochemical parameters of REEs and Th/Sc ratio have significant saltation, embodying the tectonic movement events in the evolution of the Qiongdongnan Basin. In the tectonic evolution history of the South China Sea, the South China Sea Movement (34-25 Ma BP, early expansion of the South China Sea), Baiyun Movement (23 Ma BP), late expansion movement (23.5-16.5 Ma BP), expansion-settlement transition, and other important events are all clearly recorded by the geochemical characteristics of REEs in the core.