Do the soils of the LIA contain elevated levels of heavy metals?
ATSDR attempted to answer this question using two different approaches: (1) by comparing concentrations of chemicals detected at the LIA to the remainder of Vieques and (2) by comparing concentrations of chemicals detected at the LIA to background soil samples in the NASD. Both approaches yielded useful but slightly differing conclusions and each may be based upon data (high-biased) or assumptions (correlations of geologic/soil types) that may result in conclusions that are not entirely accurate. • The first approach was to statistically compare the levels of chemicals detected in the LIA to the remainder of Vieques (see Table 4). As shown in Table 4, the soil on the LIA had significantly higher concentrations of boron and calcium than the soil from the remainder of Vieques when the soil on the LIA was compared to all soil types on Vieques. The LIA, however, is comprised of two geologic units–undivided marine sedimentary rocks (Tl) and a deeply weathered assemblage of largely marine s
