Endmember analysis of metalliferous sediments from the Galapagos Rift and East Pacific Rise between 2 degrees N and 42 degrees S

594 sediment samples from the Galapagos Rift System (GRS) and the crest of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) were chemically analyzed for 12 elements. Carbonate-free compositional datasets associated with each of 3 regions, the GRS, the EPR 2 degrees N-4 degrees S and the EPR 10 degrees S-42 degrees S, were separately subjected to endmember analysis. The compositions of endmember estimates were constructed for each dataset. These compositions largely confirmed the identities of endmembers that had previously been inferred from the varimax rotated loadings of a conventional factor analysis (of the correlation matrices) of the same 3 datasets. In view of the widely-reported unreliability of the correlation structure of compositional data, the confirmation by endmember analysis of the results of a factor analysis is itself quite remarkable. However, the particular advantage of endmember analysis is that the chemical compositions of extreme sources are estimated, and may readily be interpreted. The samples in the dataset can then be expressed as mixtures of these extreme sources. By contrast, the varimax rotated loadings of a factor analysis indicate only those elements that are associated together on a single factor which may or may not be an endmember, the composition of which nevertheless remains unknown. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.