Heavy metal contents in the Gediz River basin soil: Multivariate analysis for source tracing

A regional geochemical data set from a 17,000 km(2) in Turkey, analysed for 14 elements, was used to test the influence of different variants of factor analysis on the results extracted. Samples collected from the topsoil on the floodplain along Gediz River have been analysed for Al, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb and Zn by flame atomic absorption spectrometry to determine the extent of contamination and the geochemical processes of dispersion