Two creeks (Azuabie and Obufe) in the upper Bonny Estuary, Nigeria were studied to determine how industrial and other anthropogenic
activities have influenced their relative sediment qualities. Total organic carbon, total hydrocarbons, zinc, lead, cadmium
and iron were significantly higher in the Azuabie creek, while phosphate, nitrate, copper and chromium did not show significant
differences between the two creeks. Principal component analysis (PCA) ordinations discriminated all locations in the Obufe
creek into a cluster along with the less-contaminated sites in the Azuabie creek. The other two sites in the Azuabie creek
clustered separately, showing that they were contamination hot-spots.
Keywords Hydrocarbons - heavy metals - organic carbon - estuary - Niger Delta