Distribution and occurrence of rare earth elements in No.15 coal in Shouyangshan Mine, Qinshui Coalfield, Shanxi Province and its indication to the coal-forming environment

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) were used to quantitatively analyze rare earth elements of the No. 15 Coal in Changzhi Shouyang Mine, Qinshui Coalfield for discussing its enrichment mechanism, distribution pattern, occurrence state and coal-forming environment. The results show that the average content of rare earth elements in the coal seam of the study area is 49.28 μg/g, and the overall content is relatively low. Except for SYS15-2, the rare earth elements of No.15 coal seam and gangue are all enriched in light rare earth (LREY), and the accumulation of light rare earth in gangue is more obvious. Rare earth elements occur mainly in clay minerals. On the whole, the coal-forming environment is dominated by weak reduction environment, and the source of rare earth elements is mainly terrigenous debris.