Regional geochemical baseline concentration of potentially toxic trace metals in the mineralized Lom Basin, East Cameroon: a tool for contamination assessment

Table 5 Factor analysis with varimax rotation for 14 trace metals in stream sediments from the lower Lom Basin (N = 55)

Variable	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Communality
Ni	0.983	0.117	0.018	0.981
Cr	0.982	0.091	0.022	0.974
V	0.965	0.206	0.021	0.974
Co	0.958	− 0.041	0.019	0.920
As	0.749	0.319	− 0.064	0.668
Se	0.705	0.269	0.240	0.627
pH	− 0.529	− 0.244	0.138	0.358
Cu	0.154	0.928	− 0.173	0.914
Zn	0.151	0.904	− 0.178	0.871
Hg	0.029	0.897	0.205	0.846
Sc	0.095	0.879	0.080	0.788
Pb	0.487	0.790	− 0.162	0.888
Cd	0.245	0.537	0.092	0.357
Mn	0.060	0.066	0.919	0.853
Fe	− 0.025	− 0.085	0.892	0.803
Variance	5.477	4.478	1.868	11.823
% Variance	36.515	29.851	12.451	78.817

The geochemical data was log transformed prior to factor analysis. Three factors were extracted
Factor loadings ≥ ± 0.500 are in italics
N number of sampling sites

ISSN: 1467-4866