Kyle James holds up air quality collectors, silver disks with a foam filter that collects dust in the air. (Patricia Bell/CBC)Researchers are testing the air in Iqaluit's Lower Base neighbourhood to find out if heavy metals and hydrocarbons are in the dust.

A team of soil scientists, led by Steven Siciliano from the University of Saskatchewan, has set up 10 air quality collectors — disc-shaped devices that look like miniature UFOs — to trap dust. Most of the collectors are installed around Lower Base, which used to be an American military site.

The U.S. military had set up camp there in the 1940s and 1950s, leaving behind fuels and toxins when they left in the 1960s. Operations of the base were transferred to the Canadian military in the late 1950s.

"What we're looking for are certain particular heavy metals that are known to be toxic, so we're going to look and see if they are there," Kyle James, a graduate student in soil science at the University of Saskatchewan, told CBC News.

"They have the potential to magnify in air particles, so we're going to see if the concentration is higher in air than it is in the soil."

Iqaluit's Lower Base neighbourhood was a U.S. military site in the 1940s and 1950s. (Patricia Bell/CBC)The air quality collectors can detect up to 24 heavy metals, including cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic.

"Those are pretty much the heavy hitters right there," James said.

If contamination is detected in the dust, James said, the study will help determine if the levels exceed Canadian standards. The research will also determine what potential impact it may have on human health, he added.

Residents and visitors to Iqaluit say the research is important to protect people's health, especially given roads are unpaved in most Nunavut communities, including parts of Iqaluit.

"We don't want to end up with high pollution in the air, especially in a city like this when there's such a high traffic and the dust is always constantly going to the air," said Jukeepa Hainnu, who was visiting the capital city from Clyde River.