Contamination in soils at Scott Base, Antarctica

The soils had high conductivity and pH values generally increasing with depth and in the range 8.3±10.1. The water leachate generally contained most of the extractable metals except Mn and Cd, and As.

Linear relationships were observed between some metals leached into alkaline solution and the Fe in those solutions. The ratios to Fe were comparable to those of the host basanite, and this observation is interpreted as showing that these metals are incorporated in fine mineral particulates derived directly from the rock mass. Outliers in leachable metal concentrations in the soils indicated appreciable contamination of the soil from anthropogenic sources with Ag, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn as well as As.