Cluster and Principal Components Analyses on the Contents of (Total and Sorbed) Trace Metals in Fresh Marine Sediments from the Southwest of the Gulf of Mexico

The amounts of total and sorbed Al, Ba, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, and V present in three sediment cores from the South of the Gulf of Mexico (N1, N2, and N3) were determined. Of the three samples studied herein (N1. N2, and N3), one of them (N2) is associated to a natural “chapopotera”. ICP/MS analyses show that total concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn, Ba, Cr, Ni, Pb, and V for N1 and N3 were found to be ca. 4.2, 2.3, 206.5, 165, 91, 72, 14 and 97 mg kg-1, and ca. 5.2 (Al2O3), 4, 401.50, 269, 89, 62, 18, and 118 mg kg-1 for N2. As evidenced by the correla- tion matrices, there is a positive association among metals distribution, except for the case of Mn, regardless of the sediment core. Nevertheless, Cluster and Principal Components Analyses denote variability in metal-spatial distribu- tion, signature variability in the composition of the water column. Magnitude values for the enrichment factor (EF) relative to background values found in the Southern Gulf of Mexico (bulk seawater) for Al, Fe, Mn, Ba, Cr, Ni, Pb, and V were estimated. The outcome of this work show distinctive EF values, ran- ging from moderate to high EF values, regardless of the core source.