MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF CONTAMINATION OF ALLUVIAL SOILS WITH HEAVY METALS IN CACAK, SERBIA

The paper presents contents of ten most serious contaminants i.e. heavy metals and essential elements contained in alluvial soils on the territory of Cacak. Main elements (Cd, Pb, Hg, As, Cr, Ni, F, Cu, Zn and B) that can seriously affect soil fertility and production capacity were examined. We analysed samples collected from 30 different locations in close vicinity of the West Morava river, in both urban (industrial) and rural areas of Cacak. The samples were taken from a depth of 0 cm to 30 cm. According to the values of the Shapiro-Wilk's test (0.05 significance level), contents of all the elements examined, except Cr were within the limits of normal distribution. Statistically significant positive correlation was found between Pb - Cu, Cr - Cu (p < 0.05), and F - Zn (p < 0.01). According to the results of T-test, there was no statistically significant difference between the sites located in rural area of the town and the ones located in urban (industrial) area. Cluster analysis (CA), which was used for clustering of locations with similar content of elements, gave 4 different clusters. Generally, our study infers that the alluvial soil in the municipality of Cacak cannot be considered as contaminated.