Rock Talk Winter 2005

• Year: 2005
• Title: Rock Talk
• Author: Colorado Department of Natural Resources
• Description: Division of minerals and geology Colorado Geological Survey
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

Coal
The CGS provides the public with use-
ful information regarding coal geology
in Colorado. In 2004 the CGS published
2003 Summary of Coal Resources in Colo-
rado, CGS Special Publication 54. This
25 -page document describes the
statewide coal resources on a basin -by-
basin review. Each of the eight general
coal regions in the state are described in
detail for geology, coal resources and
production, coal quality, and mining.
Information about each of the 28 coal
fields is included so that the user can
quickly identify many of the coal char-
acteristics for any field. This publication
is an update to six previous CGS coal
summaries, which was last revised in
1995.
Other projects in 2004 include Fed-
eral Grant involvement with the U.S.
Geological Survey. As part of a cooper-
ative agreement, the CGS conducted a
Coal Availability study of the Raton
Mesa Coal Region. Emphasis was placed
on the coal geology of the Trinidad Coal
Field in Las Animas County, an area that
has seen enormous growth in the
coalbed methane industry recently.
Using drilling information from over
400 wells in the county, the CGS com-
piled a stratigraphic database of coal cor-
relations for the coal- bearing Vermejo
and Raton Formations. This database,
along with digital GIS shapefiles for the
project was completed in December
2004. The shapefiles include geologic
outcrops for the Upper Cretaceous and
Paleocene rocks in the basin, coal zone
(11 zones) and coal bed (41 individual
beds) areal extents, railroads, roads,
urban areas, state wildlife areas, faults,
sills, dikes, and other pertinent files. The
goal of Coal Availability project is to
measure the amount of coal that can be
mined in a region after subtracting the
volume of coal restricted by land use
and technological factors. The Raton
Mesa project was the seventh annual
grant that the CGS has completed.
CGS staff also completed work on the
National Coal Resource Data System
(NCRDS) program. This U.S. Geological
Survey program is a 30 -year compilation
of coal quality and stratigraphic data
compiled into two large databases. These
national databases contain mostly pub-
lic information from coal mines, drill
holes, coal -bed methane wells, and
measured sections of coal. The CGS is
charged with compiling stratigraphic
and coal quality information for the
state of Colorado from regional infor-
mation collected through coal availabil-
ity and other studies.
Coal loading facilities and coal stockpile at the Arch Coal/Mountain Coal West Elk Mine, Gunnison County, Colorado. North Fork of the Gunnison River is
in the foreground, and West Beckwith Mountain in the background.
CGS ROCKTALK Vol. 8, No. 1