Factor Analysis by R Programming to Assess Variability Among Environmental Determinants of the Mariana Trench

Year 2018, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 146 - 155, 03.12.2018

Polina Lemenkova

Abstract

The aim of this work is to identify main impact factors affecting
variations in the geomorphology of the Mariana Trench which is the deepest
place of the Earth, located in the west Pacific Ocean: steepness angle and
structure of the sediment compression. The Mariana Trench presents a complex
ecosystem with highly interconnected factors: geology (sediment thickness and
tectonics including four plates that Mariana trench crosses: Philippine,
Pacific, Mariana, Caroline), bathymetry (coordinates, slope angle, depth values
in the observation points). To study such a complex system, an objective method
combining various approaches (statistics, R, GIS, descriptive analysis and
graphical plotting) was performed. Methodology of the research includes
following clusters: R programming language for writing codes, statistical
analysis, mathematical algorithms for data processing, analysis and visualizing
diagrams, GIS for digitizing bathymetric profiles and spatial analysis. The
statistical analysis of the data taken from the bathymetric profiles was
applied to environmental factors, i.e. coordinates, depths, geological
properties sediment thickness, slope angles, etc. Finally, factor analysis was
performed by R libraries to analyze impact factors of the Mariana Trench ecosystem.
Euler-Venn logical diagrams highlighted similarities between four tectonic
plates and environmental factors. The results revealed distinct correlations
between the environmental factors (sediment thickness, slope steepness,  depth values by observation points,
geographic location of the profiles) affecting Mariana Trench morphology. The research demonstrated that coding on R
language provides a powerful and highly effective statistical tools,
mathematical algorithms of factor analysis to study ocean trench formation.

Keywords

Factor Analysis, Marine Geology, Pacific Ocean, R Programming

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