Statistical factor analysis of aerial spectrometric data, Al-Awabed area, Syria: a useful guide for phosphate and uranium exploration

Factor analysis provides a quantitative interpretation for synthesizing and correlating data from airborne spectrometric surveys. Factor analysis is applied on such data of Al-Awabed area, Northern Palmyrides. The seven variables used in this research are: total radioactivity Ur1, eU, eTh, K%, eU/eTh, eU/K and eTh/K. The analysis and interpretation show that a model of four factors (F1, F2, F3 and F4) is sufficient to represent them, where 94% of total data variance is interpreted. Mapping of these four factors proved to be a powerful tool for a direct differentiation of various rocks units, and a score lithological map of 11 radiometric units was established.