~~Soil cores, grasses, and ambient air aerosols were sampled in the vicinity of a P b smelting complex in Kellogg, Idaho. Of 34 elements analyzed by instrumental neutron activation and x-ray fluorescence, Cd, Sb, Ag, Pb, Au, Zn, Se, As, In, Ni, Cu, and Hg were the most highly enriched, ranging in surface soils up to 7900 ppm Pb, 29 000 ppm Zn, and 140 ppm Cd. For grasses, P b ranged up to 10 000 ppm, Zn to 12 000 ppm, and Cd to 4400 ppm. Aerosol enrichments above contributions from local resuspended soils were 4100 for Cd, 180 for As, 110 for Pb, and 60 for Zn. These soil profiles, grass analyses, and aerosol enrichments indicate that other toxic elements, Cd, Se, As, Ni, and Hg, in addition to Pb, have significantly contaminated the Kellogg environment as a result of the smelting operations.State air pollution control agencies are increasingly concerned with the environmental impact of trace metals since, in aerosols, they are an inhalation hazard to man and animals and a stress hazard to plants. Trace metals can also function as catalysts in secondary transformation of atmospheric pollutants, e.g., in converting SO2 emissions into hazardous sulfates and sulfuric acid aerosols.Trace metals are introduced to the environment from a variety of sources: industrial emissions, fuel combustion, incineration, and transportation. In this paper we report the results of a study carried out at a mining and smelting site in Kellogg, Idaho.In 1974 it was reported ( I , 2) that two Kellogg preschool children were treated for P b poisoning and that 90% of the children subsequently tested showed abnormally high levels of P b in their blood.In 1976 the Shoshone Lead Health Project acknowledged that the center of abnormally high P b concentrations in the Valley is the smelting complex. Although leaching and wind blown dusts from tailings piles still constitute an active source, the largest active source of contamination is airborne emissions from the smelting complex ( 3 ) . However, the report did point out that the relative health significance of current emissions and previously deposited P b has not yet been established (3). Furthermore, emissions, depositions, and effects of other toxic elements were not systematically studied.We carried out multielement analyses of thirty 24-h highvolume (Hi-Vol) air particulate filters collected over a 12-month period in downtown Kellogg. T o measure the soil concentrations and to evaluate the contribution of windblown soil and tailings to local aerosols, we took soil cores along with grass samples at 12 sites, and tailings and sinter samples a t three sites.Our results constitute the most comprehensive multielement aerosol, soil, and grass analysis for Kellogg, Idaho, published to date. Further analyses of soil and vegetation should provide the necessary data base for determining the levels and rates of heavy metal deposition. These data could be used in an assessment of the resultant biological dose to man of toxic elements other than lead and, as such, are especially important because the...