Abstract

The cluster analysis was used to assess the degree of association of the metal concentrations in river Kubanni Zaria, Nigeria. The main sources of data for the analysis were the sediment from four distinct locations along the long profile Kubanni River which were analyzed using Instrumental Nitrogen Activities Analysis (INAA) techniques. The Nigerian Research Reactor-1(NIRR-1) which is Miniature Nitrogen Source Reactor (MNSR) was used to analyze the data. The result of the laboratory analysis was subjected to cluster analysis. The analysis shows a stable clustering system where the metal concentrations in the four different locations were grouped into two main groups with one outlier. The level of concentration of elements that were sampled in the dry months were cluster in group I and those collected in the raining months were in group II. This strongly support that there is temporal variation in the levels of concentration of metal contaminants between wet and dry seasons in river Kubanni and also confirms the fact that the elements that were collected in the wet season are from the same source and those in the dry season are also from common source.

Keywords:

Catchment area, cluster analysis, group levels of concentration, metal contaminants,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.