Lanthanides in Sicilian Soils

The whole soil dataset for Sicily comprises 2932 soil profiles, including 1773 soil augers and 907 mini-pits. Among these, here are extracted 117 soil profiles serve as benchmarks for Sicilian soil typological units (a total of 199 soil samples extracted and analyzed). The analyses involved drying, sieving, digestion with acids, and measurement of trace elements using ICP-MS, with validation against certified reference materials confirming accuracy and precision. Here are shown rare earth elements (REEs), i.e. lanthanides, yttrium, and scandium according to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and are sometimes referred to, without Sc, as REY (lanthanides plus yttrium). REYs can be classified into two groups: light rare earth elements (LREYs) from 57La to 64Gd, and heavy rare earth elements (HREYs) from 65Tb to 71Lu, including yttrium (39Y).