Anthrax and the Geochemistry of Soils in the Contiguous United States
Dale W. Griffin,
Erin E. Silvestri,
Charlena Y. Bowling,
Timothy Boe,
David B. Smith,
Tonya L. Nichols
Affiliations
Dale W. Griffin
Coastal and Marine Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 600 4th Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA
Erin E. Silvestri
National Homeland Security Research Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive, MS NG16, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA
Charlena Y. Bowling
National Homeland Security Research Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive, MS NG16, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA
Timothy Boe
National Homeland Security Research Center, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
David B. Smith
Denver Federal Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046, MS 973, Denver, CO 80225, USA
Tonya L. Nichols
National Homeland Security Research Center, Threat and Consequence Assessment Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ronald Reagan Building, MC 8801RR, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460, USA
Soil geochemical data from sample sites in counties that reported occurrences of anthrax in wildlife and livestock since 2000 were evaluated against counties within the same states (MN, MT, ND, NV, OR, SD and TX) that did not report occurrences. These data identified the elements, calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), phosphorus (P) and strontium (Sr), as having statistically significant differences in concentrations between county type (anthrax occurrence versus no occurrence). Tentative threshold values of the lowest concentrations of each of these elements (Ca = 0.43 wt %, Mn = 142 mg/kg, P = 180 mg/kg and Sr = 51 mg/kg) and average concentrations (Ca = 1.3 wt %, Mn = 463 mg/kg, P = 580 mg/kg and Sr = 170 mg/kg) were identified from anthrax-positive counties as prospective investigative tools in determining whether an outbreak had “potential” or was “likely” at any given geographic location in the contiguous United States.
