## 4 Results
### REE Concentrations in the Weathering Crust
#### 4.1.2 REE Concentrations in the Weathering Profile
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Parameters**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Habitats**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Median**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Average**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Skewness**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**CV/\%**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**\(p\) Value**} \\  & & **(25–75\%)** & & & & \\  & & **(\#g-g\({}^{-1}\))** & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\Sigma\)REE} & NGHs (\(n=11\)) & 174 (127–212) & 173 & 0.754 & 33.9 & 0.541 \\  & APHs (\(n=10\)) & 149 (140–156) & 149 & 0.231 & 6.84 & 0.753 \\  & BCHs (\(n=8\)) & 187 (177–337) & 238 & 0.726 & 34.4 & 0.007 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\Sigma\)LREE} & NGHs (\(n=11\)) & 154 (115–194) & 157 & 0.765 & 35.1 & 0.673 \\  & APHs (\(n=10\)) & 133 (124–139) & 133 & 0.120 & 6.88 & 0.791 \\  & BCHs (\(n=8\)) & 166 (158–311) & 216 & 0.761 & 36.8 & 0.009 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\Sigma\)HREE} & NGHs (\(n=11\)) & 15.2 (12.1–19.9) & 16.2 & 0.131 & 29.7 & 0.802 \\  & APHs (\(n=10\)) & 16.7 (15.3–18.1) & 16.6 & \(-\)0.158 & 8.84 & 0.701 \\  & BCHs (\(n=8\)) & 20.2 (19.5–24.7) & 21.7 & 1.49 & 16.3 & 0.008 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\Sigma\)LREE\(\backslash\)HREE} & NGHs (\(n=11\)) & 9.76 (7.85–11.5) & 9.85 & 0.156 & 25.2 & 0.814 \\  & APHs (\(n=10\)) & 7.86 (7.64–8.30) & 8.01 & 1.89 & 7.00 & 0.016 \\  & BCHs (\(n=8\)) & 8.36 (7.96–11.7) & 9.84 & 1.73 & 29.8 & 0.005 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\Delta\)La\({}_{N}\backslash\)Yb\({}_{N}\)} & NGHs (\(n=11\)) & 11.4 (8.49–15.9) & 12.4 & 1.03 & 46.0 & 0.315 \\  & APHs (\(n=10\)) & 8.82 (8.34–10.1) & 9.27 & 1.37 & 12.7 & 0.042 \\  & BCHs (\(n=8\)) & 9.53 (8.87–17.6) & 13.4 & 1.96 & 59.7 & 0.001 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\delta\)Eu} & NGHs (\(n=11\)) & 0.900 (0.710–0.970) & 0.869 & \(-\)0.168 & 14.4 & 0.385 \\  & APHs (\(n=10\)) & 0.719 (0.704–0.791) & 0.743 & 1.31 & 8.05 & 0.057 \\  & BCHs (\(n=8\)) & 0.686 (0.652–0.793) & 0.699 & 0.032 & 18.9 & 0.512 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\delta\)Ce} & NGHs (\(n=11\)) & 0.950 (0.890–0.970) & 0.919 & \(-\)2.09 & 8.15 & 0.002 \\  & APHs (\(n=10\)) & 0.910 (0.870–0.935) & 0.892 & \(-\)2.20 & 7.89 & 0.003 \\ \cline{1-1}  & BCHs (\(n=8\)) & 0.950 (0.935–0.990) & 0.959 & 0.490 & 5.18 & 0.510 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Parameters on REE distribution characteristics of rhizosphere soils in various habitats, Hebei Province. Figure 4: Chondrite-normalized REE patterns of layers along profiles. (**a**) Chondrite-normalized REE patterns along profile 1 in NGHs; (**b**) Chondrite-normalized REE patterns along profile 2 in NGHs; (**c**) Chondrite-normalized REE patterns along profile 3 in APHs; (**d**) Chondrite-normalized REE patterns along profile 4 in BCHs. Soils developed in loess also showed chondrite-normalized REE patterns similar to those of parent materials with enrichment of LREEs and lightly negative Eu anomalies (Figure 4c,d). It also exhibited the depletion of REEs in topsoil as compared to parent material in APHs. The \(\Sigma\)REE values of parents materials (loess) were similar, 139 and 133 ug\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\), whose corresponding soils contained total REE concentrations being 119 and 136 ug\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\). LREE/HREE was, respectively, 8.43 and 8.17, which was similar to their parent materials with LREE/HREE being 7.90 and 8.11. La\({}_{N}\)/Yb\({}_{N}\) was, respectively, 9.87 and 9.23, which was similar to their parent materials, with La\({}_{N}\)/Yb\({}_{N}\) being 9.32 and 9.26. In general, the REEs of soils and parent material horizons in homblende-gneiss were more abundant, and they had more substantial variation between LREE and HREE than those in loess.