LANTHANOID ABUNDANCES OF ACIDIC HOT-SPRING AND CRATER LAKE WATERS IN THE KUSATSU-SHIRANE VOLCANO REGION, JAPAN

The lanthanoid (Ln) contents of nine hot spring and one crater lake wa ters in the Kusatsu-shirane volcano region, Japan were measured by neu tron activation analysis. The waters examined were all acidic with pH ranging from 1.21 to 4.21. All fourteen naturally occurring Ln's were determined for six waters and at least seven Ln's were determined for the other waters. The Ln contents were as a whole at the ppb levels. T he Ln patterns obtained by normalization with the Ln contents in Leede y chondrites differed from water to water but were classifiable into t wo groups; one with a relative enrichment of the light Ln's and thus s howing negative slopes and the other having no or little slope (horizo ntal patterns). The horizontal patterns were found for the Kusatsu-yub atake and Bandaiko hot spring waters and the Yugama water. The Ln patt erns of the waters in the Kusatsu area are explained by considering th at the light Ln's are leached from rock by flowing acidic waters faste r than the heavy Ln's, that in the Ln distribution between acidic wate r with high Ln contents and rock the heavy Ln's are relatively more pr eferentially distributed into the solution phase than the light Ln's a re, and in addition that andesitic rocks in the Kusatsu area altered b y flowing acidic waters have flatter Ln patterns than those of unalter ed ones. It was also found that the fluctuation of the Ln pattern from the expected smooth line was in general larger for the heavy Ln's tha n for the light Ln's, which could be a manifestation of the tetrad eff ect.