Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Water Air Soil Pollut (2021) 232:489 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05439-y Heavy Metal Pollution Assessment Using Energy‑Dispersive X‑ray Fluorescence and Multivariate Statistical Approach of Soil from Phosphate Ore Sites, Southern Region of Togo Eyakifama Hazou · Benjamin Zorko · Marijan Nečemer · Essolakina Manakrihèa Haliba · Etsè Aziable · Cebastien Joel Guembou Shouop · Komi Paalamwé Tchakpele  Received: 8 September 2021 / Accepted: 18 November 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 > Ni > Cu > Pb > U > Br > Rb > Th. Cadmium was not detected while lead remained the most toxic element with a maximum level of 52.4 mg kg −1 . Basic statis- tics depicts strong positive correlations between Ni, Cu, Zn, and Fe which shows that their respective con- centrations increased together. Principal component analysis was used to categorize all these data into three groups using two principal axes which recover 88.06% information. The geoacumulation index from Hahotoé-Kpogamé-Kpémé soil samples varies from class 0 to class 4 displaying that these areas are mod- erately polluted and was mainly due to Pb metal con- centration. The potential ecological risk levels vary from 157 to 385, which corresponds to moderate and considerable levels. Therefore, these areas could be assumed to be safe regarding these levels. The mod- erate level observed on these various sites does not present a warning sign but should lead the legislators to establish routine monitoring in order to detect any change in the level of pollution due to heavy metals. Keywords Ecological risk · Energy-dispersive X-ray fuorescence · Heavy metal pollution · Phosphate ore · Principal component analysis 1 Introduction The earth’s crust is teeming with enough miner- als that contribute in vast areas of technology. These felds extend from electronics to jewelry. The Abstract Optimization of diferent types of expo- sure to workers, public, and vegetation is a major issue for several institutions. The main exposure is due to the activities related to various ores of the sub- soil such as phosphate which generates heavy metals during its exploitation. This study used the energy- dispersive X-ray spectrometry to investigate the heavy metal pollution that afects life on earth. Fif- teen diferent heavy metals were detected in soil sam- ples from sites dedicated to phosphate ore activities in southern Togo. Results showed that the concentra- tions of the diferent heavy metals decreased in the following order: Ca > Fe > K > Ti > Sr > Zn > Zr > Y Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi. org/10.1007/s11270-021-05439-y . E. Hazou (*) · E. M. Haliba · K. P. Tchakpele  Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Lomé, 01, P.O. Box 1515, Lomé, Togo e-mail: constantcr7@gmail.com B. Zorko · M. Nečemer  Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia E. Aziable  Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Lomé, 01, P.O. Box 1515, Lomé, Togo C. J. Guembou Shouop  Fundamental Physics Laboratory, Mathematics, Applied Computer Sciences and Fundamental Physics, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon