GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 673 

Lithium in Surficial Materials of th 

Conterminous United States and 

Partial Data on Cadmium 

Lithium in Surficial Materials of the 

Conterminous United States and 

Partial Data on Cadmium 

By Hansford T. Shacklette, Josephine G. Boerngen, 

James P. Cahill, and Ramona L. Rahill 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 673 

Washington 1973 
United States Department of the Interior 

ROGERS C. B. MORTON, Secretary 

Geological Survey 

V. E. McKelvey, Director 

Free on application to the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. 20242 
CONTENTS 

Page 

Abstract.......................................................................................................................................... 1 

Introduction................................................................................................................................... 1 

Lithium.......................................................................................................................................... 1 

Analytical method . .. . . .. .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . ... . .. . . ... . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . .. . . .. . . ... . . . . . ....... .. . . . ... . . . . . . 1 

Result~ of analyses.................................................................................................................. 1 

Discus~ion ... . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . ... . . . . .. .. .. . . .. . . . . . ... . . . .. . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . .......... ... . . .. .... .. .. . . . ..... 2 

Cadrnium....................................................................................................................................... 3 

Analytical method .............. ........ .... ........... ........ ............. .. ...... ........ ......... ..................... .......... 3 

Result~ of analyses.................................................................................................................. 3 

Discus~ ion............................................................................................................................... 3 

References cited.............................................................................................................................. 7 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

FIGURE I. Map showing lithium concentrations m surficial 

materials from the conterminous llnited States.................................................. 4 

2. Map showing physiographic regions of the conterminous 

llnited States......................................................................................................... 6 

TABLES 

Page 

TABLE l. Concentrations of lithium in samples of soils and other surficial 

materials from the conterminous llnited States.................................................... 2 

2. Location and description of sample sites where surficial materials contained measurable amounts of cadmium, and the cadmium 

concentration measured......................................................................................... 3 

III 

Lithium in Surficial Materials of the ConterminotJS 

United States and Partial Data on Cadmium 

By Hansford T. Shacklette, Josephine G Boerngen, James P. Cahill, and Ramona L. Rahill 

ABSTRACT 

Concentrations of lithium in 912 samples of soils and other 

regoliths from sites approximately 50 miles apart· throughout the 

United States are represented on a map by symbols showing five 

ranges of values. A histogram of the lithium concentrations is also 

given. The geometric mean lithium concentration is 20.4 ppm 

(parts per million) for all samples, 17.3 ppm for samples from the 

Eastern United States, and 23.3 ppm for samples from the Western 

United States. Cadmium concentrations were less than 1 ppm in 

all but 11 of the 912 samples. Ten of these 11 samples contained 

from 1 to 1.5 ppm cadmium; one sample contained 10 ppm 

cadmium. 

INTRODUCTION 

The concentrations of 36 elements in samples of 

soils and other regoliths from sites about 50 miles 

apart on travel routes throughout the conterminous 

United States were given in Shacklette, Hamilton, 

Boerngen, and Bowles (1971) and in Shacklette, 

Boerngen, and Turner (1971). After these reports 

were prepared, analytical methods became available 

for detecting lithium and cadmium in surficial 

materials in concentrations as low as 5 ppm (parts 

per million) and 1 ppm, respectively. 

The samples were collected and prepared for 

analysis in the same manner as reported earlier 

(Shacklette, Hamilton, and others, 1971) and were 

analyzed in a completely random sequence. Lithium 

and cadmium concentrations were determined by J. 

M. Cahill and R. L. Rahill. 

Although most samples studied were collected 

along roads, the specific sampling sites were selected 

to represent surficial materials that were as close as 

possible to their natural condition. Some samples, of 

necessity, were collected in cultivated fields; the 

degree of contamination of these samples and of a 

few samples from near roadsides cannot be evaluated 

from the data at hand. Most surficial materials 

analyzed were sampled at a depth of 8 inches. We 

1 

believe that soils and other regoliths from this depth 

commonly show few or no effects of any surficial 

contamination that may have occurred. 

Many geologists and other workers of tr~ U.S. 

Geological Survey assisted in this study by collecting 

samples along travel routes to their own field-study 

areas. This assistance, and that of computer 

specialists, was acknowledged in the earlier reports 

of this sampling program (Shacklette, Hamilton, 

and others, 1971; Shacklette, Boemgen, and Turner, 

1971 ). 

LITHIUM 

ANALYTICAL METHOD 

Lithium concentrations in the sample~ were 

determined by an atomic-absorption spectrometric 

method. The samples were digested by use of an HF 

total-digestion procedure (Huffman, 1968). The 

final sample solution contained 5 percent HCI; part 

of this solution was aspirated into the atomicabsorption spectrometer (Perkin-Elmer mod<>l 303). 

An air-acetylene oxidizing flame was used, and the 

light source was a hollow cathode tube set at 15 

milliarnperes. The other instrumental parameters 

included a wavelength setting of 6, 708 angstroms 

and a laminar single-slot burner 10 em (centimeters) 

long. The range of standards used for these s::tmples 

was 0.05 ppm to 2.0 ppm lithium. The lower limit of 

the determination based on I gram of sample in 100 

ml (milliliters) volume is 5 ppm lithium. 

RESULTS OF ANALYSES 

The lithium values were transformec to a 

logarithmic form because the frequency distribution 

is more nearly symmetrical on a logarithmic scale 

than on an arithmetic scale. The best mezsure of 

central tendency in a lognormal distribution is given 
by the geometric mean, which is the antilogarithm of 

the mean logarithm. The most convenient measure 

of variation is the geometric deviation, which is the 

antilogarithm of the standard deviation of the 

logarithms. Estimates of the arithmetic mean were 

derived by the use of Sichel's (1952) technique. These 

methods of statistical evaluation are the same as 

those used for evaluating other elements in the 

samples, as reported by Shacklette, Hamilton, 

Boerngen, and Bowles (1971). 

We measured the precision of the analytical 

method used for lithium by analyzing 48 randomly 

selected samples in duplicate. The 48 duplicates were 

randomly interspersed among the other 912 samples 

and were unknown to the analysts. The precision of 

the method was estimated by 

s 2 a 

48 

I (log Xi -log Yi)2 i=l 

96 0.00040, 

where sa2 is the precision and Xi and Yi are, 

respectively, the lithium determinations for the ith 

sample and the corresponding duplicate. This 

indicates that the analyses are reproducible within a 

factor of 1.05 ( 10sa) at the 68-percent level of 

confidence, or within a factor of 1.10 (102sa) at the 

95-percent level. 

The logarithmic variance of lithium 

concentrations in all 912 samples is 0.0739, 

indicating that the analytical-error variance 

contributes less than 1 percent to the total variance in 

the data. 

Statistics for the lithium concentration of all 

samples, as well as of samples from both east and 

west of the 97th meridian, are given in table 1. Shown 

in figure 1 are the distribution of the samp-le sites 

throughout the conterminous United States and the 

lithium concentrations of the samples expressed in 

terms of five geometric ranges of concentration. 

DISCUSSION 

Lithium commonly occurs in small, but 

measurable, concentrations in both soils and plants. 

Although this element is not generally considered 

essential to plant nutrition (Bradford, 1966, p. 218), 

low concentrations were reported to stimulate plant 

growth by McMurtrey and Robinson ( 1938, p. 822) 

and by Borovik-Romanova (1965, p. 675). High 

concentrations of lithium, expecially the carbonate 

form, are toxic to plants. However, Bradford (1966, 

p. 223) stated: "Naturally occurring instances of 

lithium toxicity to plants are not known, except in 

the case of citrus.'' Animals apparently do not have a 

2 

TABLE I.-Concentrations of lithium, in parts per million, 

in samples of soils and other surficial materials from 

the conterminous United States 

[Number-of samples is given in parentheses after area] 

Geometric Geometric Arithmetic Area Range mean de\·iation mean1 

Entire conterminous United States 

(912) ··································· 5-136 20.37 Western United States, west of the 97th meridian 

(492) ··································· 5-130 23.28 Eastern United States, east of the 97th meridian (420)................................... 5-136 17.31 

1 Estimated by method of Sichel (1952). 

1.87 24.74 

1.62 26.14 

2.10 22.80 

metabolic requirement for lithiun, but recently 

reported therapeutic uses of lithium compounds 

have stimulated interest in regional patterns of 

lithium concentrations in natural rraterials (Voors, 

1970). 

The range in the lithium contents of 19 soil 

samples from throughout the United States was 

reported by Steinkoenig (1915, p. 426) to be from 

0.001 to 0.010 percent lithia (5 to 5( ppm lithium). 

Vinogradov (1959, p. 184) gave the "average" 

lithium content of soils as 30 ppn. Hawkes and 

Webb ( 1962, p. 368) reported that the lithium content 

of soils ranges from 5 to 200 ppm, the same range that 

was reported by Swaine (1955, p. 48) for lithium in 

ordinary agricultural soils. Bradford ( 1966, p. 221) 

stated: "There is no evidence available to indicate 

that total lithium in soils is in any way related to 

plant availability.*** Plant content of this element 

is at present the best guide to the lithium status of the 

soil." 

The difference in geometric mean concentrations 

of lithium in samples from the Eastern and the 

Western United States (table 1) is statistically 

significant at the 99.9-percent confidence level. For 

soils of the Western United States, higher lithium 

values parallel higher values of alurrinum, barium, 

magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and 

strontium, as reported by Shacklette (1971, p. 37) and 

Shacklette, Hamilton, Boerngen, and Bowles (1971). 

Some regional patterns in lower concentrations of 

this element are apparent. The low l~vels in soils of 

the Atlantic Coastal Plain regioYI (figs. 1, 2) 

correspond to low levels of cobalt, gallium, lead, 

manganese, nickel, scandium, and zjnc (Shacklette, 

1971, p. 37). Low concentrations of these elements 

are also noted in the Sand Hills of Nebraska (Great 

Plains region) and in sandy soils of the lower 

peninsula of Michigan and north<:>rn Wisconsin 

(Central Stable region). 

The medium to high values for lithium in soils 

from the lower Mississippi River drainage basin are 
bounded on the east and west by the typically low to 

medium values of the Atlantic Coastal Plain 

region-a pattern characteristic of most metals in 

soils (Shacklette, Hamilton, and others, 197l,p. D6). 

Areas having high values are apparent in the 

Appalachian Highland region, in Nevada, and on 

east-west routes across the central part of the 

Cordilleran Mountain region. 

Because lithium has many industrial uses, 

contamination of soils by this element may be 

expected. Lithium-type greases, for example, are 

widely used on industrial and agricultural 

machinery. The United States produced more than 

2.00 million pounds of these greases in 1958 

(Kolfenbach and Morway, 1959, p. 22). Bradford 

(1966, p. 221) listed and discussed practices which 

may produce lithium toxicity as follows: 

"Acidification of some neutral or alkaline soils; 

irrigation with water containing lithium; and 

contamination of soils or irrigation waters from 

industrial wastes containing lithium. The 

production of lithium and its compounds has 

increased enormously since the development of 

atomic energy, and consequently these materials are 

finding many valuable applications in science and 

industry." He stated further that lithium 

compounds are used in the rubber, ceramic, and 

cement industries. 

CADMIUM 

ANALYTICAL METHOD 

The procedure used for cadmium analysis is an 

adaptation of the method described by Nakagawa 

and Harms ( 1968). Transfer a 1-gram dry sample into 

a 20x200-mm pyrex culture tube. Moisten the 

sample with water and place a 1-cm teflon magnetic 

stirring bar in the tube. Add 5 ml HN03 and boil and 

stir the sample for 20 minutes. Wash the tube walls 

with approximately 10 ml of water and boil the 

sample for an additional 10 minutes. Remove the 

tube and cool the sample, then dilute the sample to a 

final volume of 20 mi. Measure the cadmium content 

of the sample solution by aspirating part of the 

solution into an atomic-absorption spectrometer 

using a wavelength of 2,288 microns. Other 

instrumental parameters include an air-hydrogen 

oxidizing flame and a latninar single-slot burner 10 

em long. 

All samples in this study were scanned by use of 

the HN03 atomic-absorption method. A few 

samples contained large amounts of calcium; these 

sam pies were analyzed also by an organic extractionatomic absorption procedure because high 

concentrations of calcium are known to interfere 

with the determination of cadmium. This extraction 

procedure, developed by Cahill, consists of HN03 

dissolution and adjustment to pH 8 with NH40H. 

The cadmium is then extracted with 10 ml of n-butyl 

acetate made to contain 2 percent 2-mercaptobenzothiozol (MBT). Measure the cadn1ium content 

of the organic phase by atomic absorption, using an 

air-hydrogen flame and the previously mentioned 

instrumental parameters. The lower detection limit 

of this method is 1 ppm. 

RESULTS OF ANALYSES 

Because of insufficient sensitivity (1 ppm) of the 

analytical method, cadmium concentrations could 

be measured in only 11 of the 912 samples analyzed. 

Cadmium concentrations in the other 901 samples 

were determined to be less than 1 ppm. The location 

and description of sample sites where surficial 

materials contained measurable amounts of 

cadmium, and the cadmium concentration 

measured, are given in table 2. 

DISCUSSION 

Underwood (1971, p. ~76) stated: 

Data on the sources of cadmium t~ man and domestic animals are 

exceedingly meager. The factors that affect the magnitude of 

normal intakes and the movements of cadmium from soils and 

plants to animals and man have also been little studied. This is a 

serious gap in knowledge, in view of the geographical differences 

TABLE 2.-Location and descnption of sample sites where surficial materials contained measurable amounts of cadmium 

and the cadmium concentration measured, in parts per million 

Sample No. 

GC 0422 .. 0560 .. 

0602 .. 

1521 .. 

1558 .. 

1854 .. 

1913 .. 

2427 .. 

2431 .. 

2674 .. 

2706 .. 

State 

Ohio .............. .. Wisconsin ...... .. 

California ...... .. 

Texas ............. .. 

Kansas ........... .. 

Colorado ......... . 

New Mexico .. .. 

California ...... .. 

California ....... . South Dakota .. 

California ........ 

County 

Auglaize ......... .. 

Polk ............... .. 

Kern ................ . 

Harris ............. . 

Bourbon ......... . 

Moffat. ........... .. 

Chaves ............ . 

Nevada ........... .. 

Santa Clara .... .. 

Brown ............. . 

Shasta ............ .. 

Locality and description of sample 

U.S. Highway 33, I mile northwest of Lakeview; brown sill')' loam, cultivated ................................... . 

State Route 35, 2 miles south of Luck; yellow sandy loam ................................................................... . 

Junction of State Route 33 and unnumbered road, 10 miles northwest of Button Willow; 

B horizon soil. U.S. Highway 90, 2 miles east of Addicks; dark alluvial day ............................................................... .. 

U.S. Highway 54, 10 miles west of Fort Scott; dark praine soil over limestone .................................. .. 

U.S. Highway 40, 8 miles east of Massadona; brown clayey silt .......................................................... .. 

U.S. Highway 70, 18 miles southwest of Roswell; very dry tan soil with many chert fragments ........ . 

Junction of U.S. Highway 40 and State Route 20, near Cisco; B horizon s01l .................................... .. 

U.S. Highway 101 at State Route 152 exit, Gilroy; B horizon soil.. ..................................................... .. State Route 37, I mile south of Groton; gray-mottled B horizon lacustrine day, in grassland ........... . 

In Lassen Volcanic National Park, 3 miles southeast of Manzanita Lake; B horizon soil.. ................. . 

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FIGURE 2.-Physiographic regions of the conterminous United States. 
in human renal cadmium levels and their increase with age, the 

toxicity of this element, and the possible association of cadmium 

with human hypertension. The interactions of cadmium with 

zinc, copper, iron, and selenium also indicate the need for more 

information on sources of cadmium to man and animals. 

Cadmium concentrations in various plants, 

including food plants, were given by Shacklette 

(1972). Analyses of cadn1ium concentrations in soils 

have been hampered because of insufficient 

sensitivity of available analytical methods. The 

concentrations commonly found in ordinary soils 

are at or below the detection limit of the methods that 

are used. Swaine (1955, p. 20) wrote: "It is unlikely 

that normal soils would contain more than c.[ circa] I 

ppm Cd." Vinogradov (1959) gave 0.5 ppm as the 

"average" concentration of this element in soils; the 

same value was given as a "suggested" average by 

Warren, Delavault, and Fletcher (1971, p. 2). 

Miesch and Huffman (1972, p. 76-77) reported 

cadmium concentrations in upper and lower soil 

horizons from the Helena Valley area, Montana, 

where pollution from smelters is widespread. In 

regard to soils just outside the immediate Helena 

Valley area they stated: "The mean is estimated to be 

approximately 0.8 ppm, and the range is from less 

than 0.5 to 2 ppm." Within the Helena Valley area 

they observed that: 

The highest cadmium content was found in soils collected near 

the smelter stack; approximately 150 ppm cadmium was found in 

samples collected from the upper 4-inch soil layer 0.67 mile 

northwest of the stack along traverse C. The cadmium content of 

the upper 4-inch soillayer,like the lead and zinc content, decreases 

systematically with distance from the stack, but no soils taken 

beyond a distance of about 5 miles from the stack were found to 

contain more cadmium than those soils sampled outside the 

Helena Valley. This does not necessarily mean that cadmium 

contained in smelter stack emissions is less widely dispersed than 

lead or zinc; cadmium is more difficult to assess because it is less 

abundant. The cadmium content of soils collected at a depth of 6 

to 10 inches is one-fifth to one-tenth of that in soils of the upper 4-

inch layer, indicating that the chemical mobility of cadmium in 

the soils is somewhat greater than that of lead, but less than that of 

zinc. This is in accord with the observed general behavior of 

cadmium in soils as reported from studies in geochemical 

prospecting. 

In the present study, regional trends in cadmium 

concentrations in soils cannot be demonstrated by 

the very few reporl.Pd cadmium values. Likewise, the 

"average" soil cadmium value of 0.5 ppm, as given 

by Vinogradov ( 1959) and by Warren, Delavault, and 

Fletcher (1971), cannot be evaluated by using our 

data because of the limitation in sensitivity of the 

analytical method that was used for samples in this 

study. The depth at which these samples were 

collected (about 8 in.) most likely precludes airborne 

industrial contamination of most samples, if judged 

7 

by the results of Miesch and Huffman ( 1972), who 

reported greatly reduced cadmium leve1s with 

increasing depth of soil sampling. Nonetheless, the 

high value of 10 ppm cadmium in the Santa Clara 

County, Calif., sample probably re":lresents 

contamination from some unidentified source. 

REFERENCES CITED 

Borovik-Romanova, T. F., 1965, The content of lithium in 

plants, in Khitaron, N. I., ed., Problems of geochemistry: Acad. Sci. USSR, V. I. Vernadskii lnst. Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, p. 675-682. 

Bradford, G. R., 1966, Lithium, in Chapman, H. T., ed., 

Diagnostic criteria for plants and soils: Riverside, 

California Univ. Div. Agr. Sci., 793 p. 

Hawkes, H. E., and Webb, ]. S .. 1962, Geoche·nistry in 

mineral exploration: New York, N.Y., and Evanston, 

Ill., Harper & Row, Publishers, 415 p. 

Huffman, Claude, Jr., 1968, Copper, strontium, and zinc 

content of U.S. Geological Survey silicate rock standards, in Geological Survey research 1968: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Prof. Paper 600-B, p. BllO-Blll. 

Kolfenbach, ]. ]., and Morway, A. ]., 1959, Grease range 

boosted: Chern. and Eng. News, v. 37, no. 24. p. 

21-22. 

McMurtrey, ]. E., Jr., and Robinson, W. 0., 1~38, Neglected soil constituents that affect plant and animal 

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