The successful return of Chang’E-5 (CE5) samples urges the hot topic of the study of the Moon in geochemistry. The elemental data of the analyzed moon samples reported in the literature were collected to determine the elemental abundances in moon samples. Based on 2365 analytical records of moon samples from ten missions of Apollo, Luna, and CE5, elemental abundances of 11 major oxides including Cr₂O₃, 50 trace elements including Ti, P, Mn, Cr, and 15 rare earth elements (REEs) including Y are derived based on statistical distributions of normal, log-normal, and additive log-ratio transformation, respectively. According to the value of 13.5% CaO content, moon samples are classified into two types, as low-Ca and high-Ca samples, whose elemental abundances are also calculated respectively based on the methods used in the total moon samples. With respect to the mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) of the Earth, moon samples (including the Moon, low-Ca, and high-Ca samples) are rich in Cr, REEs, Th, U, Pb, Zr, Hf, Cs, Ba, W, and Be and poor in Na, V, Cu, and Zn in terms of their concentrations, and are enriched in Cr and depleted in Na, K, Rb, P, V, Cu, Zn in spider diagrams. The CE5 sample is a low-Ca type of moon sample and is clearly rich in Ti, Fe, Mn, P, Sc, REEs, Th, U, Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, Sr, Ba, W, and Be and poor in Mg, Al, Cr, and Ni in terms of their concentrations relative to the moon or the low-Ca samples. If compared with the moon sample, the CE5 sample is also clearly rich in K, REE, and P.

With the development of the economy and society, the environmental problems caused by heavy metals have always been the focus of attention. Strong concern has been recently shown for the heavy metal pollution of soils in southwestern China. The heavy metals of surface soils in the Xinping area of Yunnan province, China are surveyed along with some crop samples. There are 3312 surface soils and 95 crop samples collected in about 370 square kilometers. Heavy metals including As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb and pH are analyzed. New single and integrated pollution indices of heavy metals for soils (PI and PI_n) and crops (PI^c and PI_n^c) based on Chinese criteria (GB15618-2018 and GB2762-2022) are described and presented here and used to assess the pollution status of heavy metals. The results indicate that the background level of surface soils is about 62.1%, the screening level is about 33.4%, and the intervention level is about 4.5%, which is mainly a result from Cr and spatially coincides with the peridotite rock, indicating a geogenic pollution source. Most crop samples are not contaminated with heavy metals. Comparing the results of the two integrated pollution indices between soils and crops, two inconsistent assessments are observed. One is that some contaminated crops are growing in unpolluted areas (or Type I) and the other is that some uncontaminated crops are growing in polluted areas (or Type II). This indicates a new challenge between the assessment criteria on soils and crops.

With the explosive growth in demand for lithium (Li) resources, the Mufushan area has been a hotspot for Li deposit exploration in China in recent years. Geochemical maps and geochemical anomaly maps are basic maps in the geochemical exploration of mineral resources. A fixed-value method to contour a Li geochemical map is presented here, in which Li concentrations are divided into 19 levels on 18 fixed values, ranging from 5 μg/g (corresponding to the detection limit) to 1858 μg/g (corresponding to the cut-off grade of Li deposit in hard-rock type) and illustrated in six color tones corresponding to Li areas of low background, high background, low anomaly, high anomaly, mineralization in clay-type, and mineralization in hard-rock type. The geochemical map of Li in the Mufushan area using the new fixed-value method indicates that the study area belongs to the high background area, and the known Li deposits are located in the high anomaly areas. In addition, the geochemical anomaly map of the Mufushan area is drawn using the method of seven levels of classification, and indicates that the known Li deposits are all in the anomaly areas, with anomaly levels not lower than the second level. Furthermore, four other areas are recognized for Li resource potential based on the geochemical map and geochemical anomaly map in the Mufushan area.

Geochemical gene is a new promising concept proposed recently in the discrimination and traceability of geological materials and is also a useful tool to recognize geochemical anomalies in mineral exploration. Based on the lithogenes of LG01 and LG03, geological materials can be classified into nine types of LG_CR compositionally. With respect to geological materials with 11 types of LG_CR, in order to eliminate the lithological influence and to further narrow the prospecting target area, a tungsten metallogene named MGW11 is proposed for geochemical tungsten exploration after the tungsten metallogene MGW. Six weathering profiles of 11 types of LG_CR developed on granitic intrusions in different areas in China are selected to test the stable properties such as heredity and inheritance of MGW11 and MGW. The results indicate that MGW11 and MGW metallogenes illustrate stable properties during rock weathering regardless of weathering degrees, although gene variations of MGW11 and MGW are also observed during extreme weathering. Based on the regional geochemistry survey data in the Lianyang area in south China, where stream sediments are mostly 11 types of LG_CR compositionally, geochemical maps of mineralization similarities of MGW11 and MGW are contoured, and the anomaly areas are determined on the mineralization similarity value of ≥40%. Comparing the tungsten deposits and anomaly areas determined on MGW11 and MGW metallogenes spatially, a total of six polymetallic W deposits recognized in the study area are all located in the anomaly areas. Therefore, mineralization similarities of MGW11 and MGW can be viewed as useful integrated indices on geochemical tungsten exploration. In areas with 11 types of LG_CR compositionally, anomaly areas determined on the MGW11 are smaller than those on the MGW, which indicates that MGW11 is more efficient than MGW in targeting W deposits during tungsten prospecting because of the elimination of the lithological influence.

Geochemical lithogenes have been successfully applied as an innovative concept in the field of composition classification and source traceability of geological materials recently. This paper introduces the background of the development of geochemical genes and the construction and application of LG01 and LG03 lithogenes. Based on LG01 and LG03, the LG_CR classification and provenance are applied and verified on a weathering profile, ten gully sedimentary profiles and regional stream sediments in the Wanquan area of Zhangjiakou city, Hebei province, China. The geochemical lithology of the weathering profile shows a gradual variation from basic-like in the bottom rock to acidic-like at the upper soils compositionally with heterogeneity. The classification results on 10 sedimentary gully profiles (each with five samples) indicate that soils at the bottom of the gully system are dominated with 11 types of LG_CR materials, while the top materials are made up of 21 types, reflecting the mixing of the upstream soils. The results of stream sediments from a regional geochemical survey with a scale of 1:200,000 in this area illustrate that the classification results of LG_CR on stream sediments are basically consistent with the petrological results derived from regional geological mapping. Therefore, LG_CR can be used not only as an effective tool for classification and traceability of geological materials but also has great potential in lithological mapping in petrological-overburdened areas.