Abstract

The determination of Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn, Cr and Cu concentrations in Asa River using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometery (AAS) and X – ray fluorescence (XRF) is discussed. Statistical analysis showed there was no significant difference in the concentrations of Cr, Zn, Pb and Cu using the two techniques but significant differences were observed at 5% probability level for Mn and Fe. This was attributed to differences in sample preparation as the two metals have been observed to be mainly of natural origin. It is suggested that they could have been trapped in the micro - particles in water since no digestion was carried out prior to XRF analysis. The boxplots were carried out using SPSS and the statistical analysis using ANOVA.

Keywords:  Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry, X – ray Fluorescence, micro –particles