https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603144339.htm

Many Arctic and sub-Arctic communities face heavy metal contamination of their food and water resulting from activities such as mining and drilling. As global temperatures rise, thawing of permafrost -- frozen soils -- could also release naturally occurring heavy metals into Arctic ecosystems, potentially intensifying health risks. However, the amount of toxic metals in Arctic soils and the risks they pose are unclear.

Perryman and colleagues set out to synthesize previously collected data in order to clarify soil metal concentrations across the Arctic, but were quickly stymied by a severe lack of publicly available data. Instead, they drew from the USGS Alaskan Geochemical Database to assess data on arsenic, chromium, mercury, nickel, and lead concentrations in over 1,000 soil samples collected in Alaskan soils.