Data on rare earth elements in different particle size fractions of topsoil for two small erosional landforms in central European Russia

The pathways and behavior of rare earth elements (REEs) in the soil environment have been receiving greater significance due to their wide use in technological applications, agriculture, and medicine over the last two decades and insufficient information on their health effect and participation in soil and geochemical processes. In this paper, we report original data on rare earth elements in various particle size fractions separated from the topsoil horizons of two small erosional landforms located in an uncontaminated area of the central part of European Russia (the Middle Protva basin, the Kaluga region). Soil samples were collected from the top 10 cm along several soil transects. Soils were sampled at the landforms sides, bottoms, detrital fans and catchment areas considered as sources of solid matter. The sampling scheme used makes it possible to assess the REEs distribution from catchments to bottoms of the erosional landforms, as well as along their thalwegs. The collected bulk samples (n = 22) were physically fractionated and the concentrations of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu were determined in five particle size fractions (1000–250, 250–50, 50–10, 10–1 and <1 µm, n = 100) by ICP-MS using Elan-6100 spectrometer (Perkin Elmer Inc., USA). The data obtained also include the concentrations of Fe and Mn (ICP-AES), as well as the information on the total content of organic carbon (TOC), pH and particle size distribution of the bulk samples. The obtained dataset can be used for various purposes: it is suitable as a baseline for the assessment of pollution levels, exploring natural and anthropogenic anomalies, for revealing the association of REEs with specific particle size fractions and detecting the effect of parent material and lateral translocations of soil material and soil particles on the REEs levels.