Geochemical mapping in Jamaica

A high-precision regional geochemical data base of Jamaica is being developed as a basis for a wide variety of economic and environmental applications. These include pollution studies, resource identification and management, agriculture, land use, and the relationship between geochemistry and the health of crops, animals, and man. The acquisition of analytical data is mainly by instrumental neutron activation analysis using a SLOWPOKE reactor and by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Concentration ranges and means in soil are presented for 31 elements and maps illustrating the distributions of Al, Br, Co, and the -ray intensities are presented as examples. Compared with world averages the levels of many heavy metals in Jamaican soils are found to be relatively high and in the main strongly correlated with bauxite occurrences. The high content of bromine in the soils appears to reflect the impact of sea-spray.