Twenty‐eight meltwater samples were collected from Scott Base, Cape Evans, Cape Royds, Marble Point, Vanda Station, and along the length of the Onyx River, in the McMurdo Sound area of Antarctica during the summers of 1992/93 and 1993/94. Samples were analysed for major components, and for heavy metals at ultra‐trace levels. The sample sites included biologically active ponds, glacier melt water, lake water, roadside drains, and rivers. Sample salinities varied widely, but heavy‐metal concentrations were uniformly low except where significant human impacts would have been expected. Concentrations of silver, mercury, lead, copper, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and zinc were higher at Scott Base than in the other areas and were dominantly associated with coarse particulates. Natural sources of metals may be local lithology, but chemical and mechanical processes within the soils and solutions affect the distributions of different metals.