Statistical Analysis on Physico-Chemical Properties of Some Nigerian Clay Deposits

Abstract

Clays are among the most essential industrial minerals due to their unique physicochemical properties and versatile usage. This paper used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software to characterize five clay deposits for their physical and chemical compositions. The package, was employed to carry out the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) by Post-Hoctambane multiple comparisons and Kristal Wallis at 5% confidence level for the f- and t-tests respectively. The analysis of variance of the chemical components of the samples by post-hoc (f 8 , 36 = 52.40, p < 0.05) showed that significant difference exist between the average concentration means. While the Kristal Wallis one sample t-test (T 8 , 37.38 and p < 0.05) showed a great degree of significant difference in the p-values of the means of SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 . Pearson bivariate correlation statistical tool was also used to establish if significant positive interrelationships exist between the parameters in each site of the clay samples at (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05). The result of the correlation indicates a very significant, strong and positive coefficient p-values above 0.900 between the chemical and physicalproperties. Pearson bivariate correlation coefficient between the chemical and physical parameters of the clay samples indicates very significant, strong and positive correlations with p-values above 0.900 at (p < 0.01 and <0.05). The overall physicochemical results indicate that most of the clay samples will meet the requirements for some industrial applications with minimal processing.