Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Environ Monit Assess (2021) 193:780 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09583-0 Potentially toxic elements and rare earth elements in sandy soils from the Brazilian Cerrado Vanessa Martins · Ronny Sobreira Barbosa · Ozeas S Costa Jr · Yuri Jacques Agra Bezerra da Silva · Ygor Jacques Agra Bezerra da Silva · Julio César Galdino de Sousa · Gabriela Bielefeld Nardoto  Received: 6 May 2021 / Accepted: 27 October 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 chemical analyses were used to examine PTE and REE geochemistry in six sand soil profles from the Brazil- ian Cerrado. The background concentrations of these elements are low, but soils from the Parnaíba Basin have higher concentrations of PTEs than soils from the São Francisco Basin. In soils from the Parnaíba Basin, mainly Al 2 O 3 has relevance in the V and Cr geochem- istry, as these elements increase with increasing Al 2 O 3 content. On the other hand, the REEs have CEC as a soil attribute of higher relevance in the geochemistry of those elements is soils from the Parnaíba Basin, and this relevance divides the TOC, Fe 2 O 3 , and TiO 2 minerals from the clay fraction. In soils from the São Francisco Basin, the geochemistry of PTEs is possibly associated with kaolinite, especially Cu, V, and Zn. In contrast, the Ba concentration was associated with the presence of feldspar. Unlike soils from the Parnaíba Basin, the REEs do not correlate with the studied soil attributes, except for Ho and Lu. Ho had a posi- tive association with Al 2 O 3 . Ho and Lu are negatively related to the presence of iron oxides. Keywords Trace elements · Lanthanides · Background concentration · Geochemistry · Tropical soils · State of Piauí Introduction The Cerrado, one of the world’s biodiversity hot- spots (Mittermeier et al., 2005), is the second Abstract This study aims to determine the concen- tration of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and rare earth elements (REEs) in Brazilian sandy soils under the Cerrado at the Parnaíba–São Francisco Basin transition. We also explored the geochemical correla- tion between these elements and pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), total organic carbon (TOC), sand, clay, oxides from secondary minerals, and chemical index of alteration for each basin. Mineralogical, physical, and V. Martins  Technical College of Bom Jesus, High School Level, Federal University of Piauí, Manoel Gracindo Street, km 01, Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus, PI 64900-000, Brazil R. S. Barbosa (*) · Y. J. A. B. da Silva · J. C. G. de Sousa  Agronomy Undergraduate Course, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, Manoel Gracindo Street, km 01, Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus, PI 64900-000, Brazil e-mail: ronny.barbosa@ufpi.edu.br O. S. Costa Jr  The Ohio State University at Mansfeld, 1760 University Dr, Mansfeld, OH 44906, USA Y. J. A. B. da Silva  Agronomy Department, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Dom Manuel de Medeiros Street, s/n, Dois Irmãos, PE 52171-900, Brazil G. B. Nardoto  Departament of Ecology, University of Brasília, Asa Norte, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, DF 70910-900, Brazil