X-RAY FLUORESCENCE COMBINED WITH CHEMOMETRICS FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF GEOLOGICAL SAMPLES: A CASE STUDY IN SOUTHEASTERN SENEGAL

摘要

Characterization of magmatic, metamorphic, and mineralized metamorphic rock collected in southeastern Senegal in West Africa was performed based on elemental analysis by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. The rock classification scheme based on chemical composition was obtained by a combination of principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering techniques to discriminate magmatic, metamorphic, and mineralized metamorphic rock. An improved sensitivity of signal-to-noise ratio was obtained using a thin silver X-ray excitation source with several appropriate filters. Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence was used to characterize the major oxides, and the results were compared to previous studies.