Characterization of soil samples according to their metal content

Soil samples were collected from two small agricultural fields located in Medanos and Hilario Ascasubi, Bahia Blanca, Argentina and analyzed for Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Na, Rb, Sc, Th, U, Yb, and Zn by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). In order to evaluate the contribution of anthropogenic sources and the similarity/dissimilarity between the samples, the database was studied by means of enrichment factors (EF) and discriminant analysis (DA), respectively. In addition to identifying redundant variables without losing essential information, the data set was studied using forward stepwise discriminant analysis.