Map showing distribution of copper, lead, zinc, mercury, and arsenic in the sediments off the coast of northern Alaska

A developing interest in the normal distributions of potentially harmful substances in the natural environment has prompted a baseline study of a virtually pristine region along the northern coast of Alaska. The information reported here outlines the background values of copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic in the nearshore sediments and is a companion to a similar report covering the sediments off the northwestern coast of Alaska (Barnes and Leong, 1971). This study forms a part of a larger investigation in which many other aspects of the physical, chemical, biological and geological aspects of the continental shelf are considered (Hufford, in press).