Where Is Gadolinium Found?
Gadolinium can be found in small amounts in minerals like monazite, gadolinite and bastnaesite. Although called rare earth metals they are not rare in terms of occurrence but rather the elements they contain are extremely difficult to separate from one another. After the Finnish scientist Johan Gadolin first saw rocks that contained this element, it took scientists nearly a century to isolate the various elements, including gadolinium, contained in them.
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Where Gadolinite is Located
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Gadolinite can be found in various places throughout the world including Norway, Sweden, Canada, China, Russia, Austria, the U.S., among other nations.
Where Monazite is Located
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Monazite exists in areas of river sand deposition and beaches in some parts of the USA, India, Australia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Malaysia.
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Where Bastneasite is Located
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The Basnas mine is Sweden is one place this mineral may be found. It can also be seen in Hungary, Greece, the U.S., Turkey, Malawi, the Kola Peninsula in Russia, Canada, some places in the Balkans, Norway and Mongolia.
Appearance and Properties of Gadolinium
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It is a gray element that is ductile and malleable. It attracts magnets, meaning it is ferromagnetic. Additionally, gadolinium is not highly reactive with water and dissolves in acid that has been diluted.
Uses of the Element
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Gadolinium has many industrial applications. It is utilized to create phosphorus color in TV sets and to make compact disks, among other things. It is also used in biology in magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance angiography scans. The veins of patients injected with a solution containing this element are easier to see when these procedures are performed.
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