ISSN No. (Print): 0975-1718 ISSN No. (Online): 2249-3247 A Chemometric Approach for the Distribution and Source Identification of Heavy Metals in Tannery Contaminated Soil Isa Baba Koki 1 , Syed Noeman Taqui 2 and Mohammed Ali Hussein Dhaif-Allah 3 1 Department of Chemistry, Yusuf Maitama Sule University Kano PMB 3220 Kano, Nigeria. 2 Department of Chemistry, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. 3 Department of Agricultural, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Thamar, Uni., Republic of Yemen. (Corresponding author: Isa Baba Koki) (Received 12 December, 2017, accepted 05 January, 2018) (Published by Research Trend, Website: www.researchtrend.net) ABSTRACT: Heavy metals in the environment may reach to toxic levels to humans and animals due to tannery effluents, but there is insufficient information about heavy metals pollution and distribution by tanneries. The distribution and sources of heavy metals in soils of Challawa industrial estate area were evaluated using multivariate statistical analysis after determining metals concentrations by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results of the Principal Component Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis suggested that variation in heavy metals concentrations are largely related to tannery operations. The Linear Discriminant Analysis revealed that soils around the tanneries and dumpsites are having high contents of Cr, Pb, and Zn. The metal concentrations showed significant difference (P < 0.05) between tannery and control soil samples. This confirmed the contamination of soils with toxic heavy metals at specific sites of the tanneries, and indicated the need to monitor and remediate to safeguard the environment. Keywords: Soil, Heavy Metals, Chemometric, Tanneries, Pollution I. INTRODUCTION Soil is the major part of the ecosystem which serves as a domain for humans, plants and animals [1]. At the same time, it is the most threatened part due to the contamination arising from human activities especially industrialization. Variation in soil properties makes it difficult to identify and measure the extent of the pollution. The pollutants have different sources reaching the level that could be harmful to humans and other biota [2]. Most studies done so far revealed that elevated levels of metals in soils are due to anthropogenic input [3-5]. Tanneries are major sources of metal pollutants and contribute to solid wastes in the environment [6-8]. Tanneries have been identified as the major contributors for pollution from the variety of chemicals used. The pollutants in soil and tannery effluent are mostly Cr and some other heavy metals. In tannery operation, about 40,000 tones of basic chemicals and 15,000 tones of chromium as chromiumsulphateare used. Significant portion of metals find their way to the environment rendering the soil neither suitable for agriculture nor for any other beneficial use [9]. In areas with concentration of tanneries, underground water gets polluted due to discharge of effluent. Indiscriminate discharge of chemicals and tannery waste expose the workers and nearby residents to various heavy metals hazards. Plants absorb significant quantity of toxic metals which could be of health threat to humans [10-12]. Exposure to metals causes lung infection and respiratory disorder, kidney failure and damage to central nervous system among others [13]. Soil research needs complete knowledge about soil quality and any likely sources of contamination. Sometimes erroneous conclusions are drawn about soil pollution level and distribution of metals in soil [1]. As the pollutants from tanneries contain complex heavy metal pollutants [14], analysis of metal levels by considering only mean values and other measures of central tendency may not yield perfect data on the variations and metal distributions. Hence there is need to accurately study the heavy metal distribution by appropriate choice of chemometric techniques. Multivariate statistical analyses are widely applied to analyze the extent of variations of the metal pollutants, and identification of sources of environmental contamination [15-18]. International Journal of Theoretical & Applied Sciences, 10(1): 01-08(2018)