Deep coal mines in northern Anhui province, China, provide opportunities for tracing the distribution and fractionation of rare earth elements CREEs） in deep seated environments. Major ions, as well as REE concentrations were measured in groundwater from a sandstone aquifer located between -400 and -280 m. Our results indicate that this groundwater consists of CI.HCOH-Na or CI.CO3-Na water types with warm temperature （30.1-31.4~C）, circumneutral pH （7.27-8.61） and high levels of total dissolved solids （TDS ~ 1306--2165 mg/L）. Concentrations of REEs in groundwater are high as expressed by their Nd con- centrations （0.0086-0.018μg/L）. Except for weak heavy REEs （HREE） enrichment relative to light REEs （LREE）, the similarity of REE distribution patterns between groundwater and aquifer rock indicate that enrichment of REEs is considered to be controlled by aquifer rock, as well as by their minerals, whereas the fractionation of REEs is controlled by HREE enriched minerals and, to a lesser extent, by inorganic REE complexes. Ce anomalies normalized to Post Archean Average Shale （PAAS） and aquifer rock are weak, which probably reflect the contribution of reduced conditions in combination with pH, rather than a sig- nature of aouifer rock.
Rare earth element （REE） concentrations of two different types of groundwaters （high SO42–water-SW and high alkaline waterCW） from coal bearing aquifer （–400~–280 m） in Renlou coal mine,northern Anhui Province,China were measured.The results indicated that they had different REE characteristics： the total concentrations of REEs （ΣREE） of SW were lower than those of CW in general although they all had heavy REEs enriched relative to light REEs.The dissolved REE inorganic species of SW included Ln3＋,LnCO3＋,LnSO4＋,Ln（CO3）2– and Ln（SO4）2–,whereas the CW are Ln（CO3）2– and LnCO3＋ dominant,and the proportions of Ln（CO3）2– increased while other species decreased with pH increasing.Combined with correlation analysis,the enrichment and fractionation of SW （low alkaline water） were considered to be affected by alkaline concentrations via affecting the types and proportions of REE inorganic species.However,the effect of alkaline concentrations to the enrichment and fractionation of REEs of CW （high alkaline water） was less important than total dissolved solids and pH,which reflected the contribution from different rocks they flowed over,different degrees of water-rock interactions and/or REE solid-liquid partition coefficients.
