The use of statistical methods for studying the chemical composition of oceanic sediments: Evidence from deep-water Upper Pleistocene-Holocene sediments in the Gakkel ridge, part II

This paper is a continuation of the work that was published in Geochemistry International in 2010 [1]. Based on lithological and trace-element study of sediments, a hypothetical lithostratigraphic model was proposed and lithostratigraphic horizons were identified. In this paper, we carried out statistical treatment of chemical data (on 28 elements) on the Upper Pleistocene-Holocene sediments of the Gakkel Ridge (core PS 70/306-3). Cluster analysis coupled with lithostratigraphic data was used to distinguish individual groups (clusters) of the core beds, while factor analysis allowed deciphering the main stages in the sedimentation history.