Rare Earth Elements as hydrological tracers of anthropogenic and critical zone contributions: a case study at the Alzette River basin scale.

Enrichments in Gd and LREE/HREE fractionation have been observed for the dissolved and colloidal fractions in waters of the Alzette River during low flow conditions. They can be related to the effluents of the waste water treatment plants (Gd/Gd*:8-380 and La-N/Yb-N: 0.02-0.07). Mean daily flux balance calculations at the basin scale show that during low flow conditions Gd only comes from the anthropogenic effluents. When flood events occur, the Gd anomaly progressively disappears and gives way to a chemical water signature, which is closer to that of natural REE sources in the basin ( Gd/Gd*<1.4 and 0.11<La-N/Yb-N<1.5). (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.