ABSTRACT

Abundances of the rare-earth elements (REE) in nine pelagic sediments from the Pacific Ocean floor were determined. Gross features of the REE patterns for the studied samples are similar to those of the North American shale composite (HASKIN et al., 1966), but rather small but clear differences from this shale composite can be discerned. Namely, the North American shale composite appears to have no europium anomaly, whereas all of the studied samples show negative europium anomaly. Besides, there appears to be a difference in the position of the break of the curve between the shale composite in question and the Pacific pelagic sediments. A sample from. near the equator shows the highest REE content. A fact that, despite the considerable difference in longitude, three samples from latitudes of 38-44°N show almost the same REE contents, is considered to reflect ocean current and westerly wind being parallel with the latitude for this belt. The REE contents of these three samples are similar to those in a Japanese granodiorite (JG-1). In addition to REE abundances, the major chemical constituents are also presented for each sample.