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Plata River in the late 1800s. By the 1960s, it had been extended as far as the tributary valley <br />occupied by the King II Mine surface facilities. <br />Cultural resource inventories were prepared for the King I Mine in 1980, 1994, and 1997 and for <br />the King II Mine in 2005 and 2014. No cultural or historic resources eligible for listing on the <br />National Register of Historic Places or significant archaeological sites that may be affected by <br />surface disturbance (including subsidence) were identified in the surveys. Cultural and historical <br />information is found in Appendix 3 of the PAP. <br />Geology and Topography (2.04.5 and 2.04.6) <br />The King Coal Mine lies at the northeastern corner of the Four Corners Platform. The La Plata <br />Dome and the larger San Juan Dome lie to the northeast. Southeast of the mine area lies the San <br />Juan Basin, which extends southward into New Mexico. The Hogback monocline forms the <br />boundary between the Four Corners platform and the San Juan basin. <br />Sedimentary rocks of the Upper Cretaceous Mesaverde Group are exposed throughout the area. <br />The Lower Cretaceous Mancos shale forms the valley five miles to the north, through which U.S. <br />Highway 160 has been constructed. The Mesaverde Group sits stratigraphically atop the Mancos <br />shale, and is composed of three major units (in ascending order): the Point Lookout Sandstone, <br />the coal -bearing Menefee Formation, and the Cliff House sandstone. The general dip of the <br />strata is to the south, ranging from 2 to 11 degrees. Locally, the Point Lookout is approximately <br />400 feet thick, the Menefee is 300 feet in thickness, and the Cliff House unit averages 350 feet. <br />A stratigraphic section is provided in Appendix 4 of the PAP. <br />Topography in the area consists of gently south -sloping upland surfaces, bisected by steep -sided <br />drainages which generally flow to the south-southwest. Within the permit area, the Cliff House <br />forms the top surface of the upland areas and is exposed, with the Menefee in some instances, in <br />the sides of the drainages. The deeper Point Lookout unit is not exposed within the permit area. <br />Quaternary sediments, both alluvial and colluvial, are present in the valley bottoms, and minor <br />landslides have been mapped on the valley slopes. <br />Of the two mineable coal seams exposed in the permit area, only the upper seam (Peacock, or <br />"A") of the Menefee formation was developed at the King I Mine and is currently being <br />developed at the King II Mine. Thickness of the upper seam ranges from less than 48 inches to <br />more than 76 inches. The upper seam lies approximately 22 feet below the base of the Cliff <br />House sandstone, and has 100 to 400 feet of overburden throughout much of the permit area. <br />The lower ("B") coal seam is well exposed at the Burnwell Mine, located adjacent to the King I <br />Mine. Operations began there in the 1940s, but the mine has long been abandoned and was <br />never permitted under SMCRA. The lower coal seam of the Menefee Formation has an average <br />thickness of 48 inches. This seam lies approximately 80 feet below the upper seam, with inter- <br />bedded sandstone and shale between the two seams. To the north of the permit area, the <br />interburden between the "A" and `B" seams may thin out, resulting in a single, thicker "A" <br />seam. <br />Ground Water Hydrology (2.04.5 and 2.04.7) <br />The following four water -bearing stratigraphic units have been identified in the vicinity of the <br />permit area: the alluvium of Hay Gulch; the Cliff House Sandstone; Menefee Formation <br />IN <br />