Estimation of Similarity in the Qualitative Composition of Humic Substance in Marine Sediments By Means of an Uv-Spectroscopic Library

• Published in: Chemistry and ecology Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 239 - 254
• Main Authors: Mecozzi, Mauro, Cardarilli, Demetria, Pietrantonio, Eva, Amici, Marina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Group 2001; Taylor and Francis
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Geochemistry; Humic substances; Marine; Marine and continental quaternary; Marine sediments; Multivariate analysis; Soil and rock geochemistry; Spectroscopic libraries; Surficial geology; Univariate analysis; UV spectroscopy; Sardinia Italy; East Mediterranean; Southern Europe; Italy; Tyrrhenian Sea; Ligurian Sea; West Mediterranean; Adriatic Sea; Ionian Sea; lipids; acids; ultraviolet spectra; modern; Europe; humic substances; lignin; cluster analysis; Mediterranean Sea; multivariate analysis; principal components analysis; marine sediments
• ISSN: 0275-7540; 1029-0370
• DOI: 10.1080/02757540108035557

In this paper a method for the study of the qualitative similarity of extractable humic substance (EHS) in marine sediments based on the realisation of UV spectral library of EHS is described. the spectral library was built including the digitised spectra of humic substance extracted from several marine sediments (46 samples) and two samples of standard materials (lignin sulphonate and humic substance) in a Statistica data file. the data matrix was elaborated by means of different multivariate statistic techniques such as Cluster Analysis (CA), Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and the univariate technique Spectral Correlation Analysis (SCA). This approach allows us to show the contribution of different organic compounds (aromatic, lipid and acid) to the composition of EHS and moreover it evidences also the structural characteristics of EHS in terms of similarities in the qualitative composition of samples such as presence of terrestrial and/or vegetal contributions. the UV library is an objective tool to study the qualitative composition of EHS and it represents a complementary approach to the most common methods based on the application of spectroscopic (IR, 13 CNMR), potentiometric and chromatographic techniques.