Rare Earth Elements in Soils

Rare earth elements (REEs) comprise a group of 17 elements with very similar chemical and physical properties, which include scandium (Sc, Z=21), yttrium (Y, Z=39), and the lanthanides with successive atomic numbers (Z from 57 to 71). Lanthanides are the elements lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu). REEs are required in modern industry, and their use in agriculture yielded positive effects in terms of crop yield and body weight of poultry. However, the question of whether the use of REEs in agriculture yields an enrichment of these elements in the environment remains open. It was the aim of this review to summarize the data about REEs in soils with view to their content, fractions, availability, chemical behavior, and translocation in soils and to elucidate further research needs.