WALES – Lois Ongley, a chemistry teacher at Oak Hill High School, presented a talk, “Concentrations of Heavy Metals in Soil, Zimapn, México” at the XII International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment in Grenoble, France.
The research was done in collaboration with Dr. Aurora Armienta, National University of Mexico, and Dr. Helen Mango from Castleton State College in Vermont.
Ongley and her colleagues found that the arsenic concentration in the soils was not related to iron as most researchers previously thought. Instead, the arsenic in soils from Zimapn is related to the zinc, lead and copper concentrations.
Because Pb-Zn-Ag mining and ore processing have occurred continuously in Zimapn since 1576, there are many smelter slag and tailings piles in the area. Some rocks, particularly the ores, also show elevated metal concentrations. Some of the soil contamination is natural, the result of the geologic processes responsible for the lead and zinc ores.
However, particularly near the tailings and slag piles, the soils are also contaminated by smelter fumes, by windblown tailings and possibly by ore and rock dust from the ore transport trucks.
Ongley and her colleagues initially studied the water contamination, which is high enough to threaten the health of the residents. The work was funded by two grants from the National Science Foundation totaling more than $320,000.
The results of the work have been presented in more than 30 talks at professional meetings and published in eight papers. Ongley earned a PhD in environmental science and engineering from Rice University in 1993. She was an assistant professor at Bates College. In 1997 she won Bates’ teaching award.
Ongley has also worked as an oil and gas exploration geologist and as an oceanographic shipboard technician. She served two terms as president of the Association for Women Geoscientists Foundation. She and her family reside in Monmouth.
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