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contains four coal zones: the Loma, Carbonera, Cameo, and Palisade zones. The Cameo seam is <br /> mined at the McClane Canyon Mine. <br /> The occurrence of ground water within and adjacent to the McClave Canyon Mine permit area is <br /> controlled primarily by the combination of local topography, stratigraphy and geologic structure. <br /> Drilling has indicated that the Cameo seam becomes increasingly saturated downdip (northeast) <br /> from its outcrop along the side slopes of the East Salt Creek drainage basin. This is depicted on <br /> Figure 4.2-3 of Volume II of the permit application package. The saturated zone extends downdip <br /> towards the northeast along a northwest-southeast trending line. The outcrop line of the coal, as <br /> well as the East Salt Creek drainage,runs roughly north-south in the vicinity of the permit area. <br /> Recharge to the Cameo coal seam occurs in an area where the coal seam subcrops in the East Salt <br /> Creek alluvium approximately two miles north of the McClane Canyon Mine permit area. The <br /> subcrop of the coal seam along East Salt Creek was created as the stream gradually cut through the <br /> sedimentary strata to the point where the stream channel intersected the Cameo coal seam. The <br /> underground workings of the McClane Canyon Mine extend roughly eastward into the Cameo <br /> seam from a point where the coal seam outcrops in McClane Canyon. McClane Canyon is a small <br /> tributary canyon to the East Salt Creek drainage. In addition to the saturated portions of the Cameo <br /> seam, some local lenticular strata of limited extent situated above the Cameo seam have been <br /> found to contain ground water perched within the strata. Saturation of the Cameo seam occurs at <br /> about 5,580 ft. elevation. <br /> East Salt Creek is an intermittent stream tributary to the Colorado River. The East Salt Creek <br /> Valley has been designated as an alluvial valley floor(AVF),with both undeveloped rangeland and <br /> irrigated hayland mapped on the AVF in the vicinity of the mine. Existing and proposed surface <br /> disturbances associated with the mine are located in the McClane Canyon drainage basin upstream <br /> from the AVF boundary, with the exception of office trailer facilities and the lower portion of the <br /> access road,which are situated within the boundaries of the AVF. <br /> The climate in the region is semi-arid. Prevailing winds at or near ground level at the mine are <br /> dictated by the orientation of the deeply incised McClane Canyon. The annual average <br /> precipitation within the permit area increases with elevation from approximately 10 inches along <br /> East Salt Creek, up to 15 inches on the ridges above 7,000 feet. <br /> Soils in the permit area are well drained to excessively well drained and have formed in alluvial or <br /> colluvial sediments. Soils are deepest in the valley bottoms and become shallower along the <br /> canyon sideslopes where they intersperse with bare rock. Most of the soils are rated fair to good as <br /> sources of topsoil for reclamation. Limitations exist for subsoils in the alluvial deposits along <br /> valley bottoms due to high sodium content. <br /> Vegetation types within and adjacent to the permit area are broadly classified as lower montane. <br /> Three primary vegetation types occur in the permit and adjacent area. A greasewood shrubland <br /> type occupies the flat terrain along the East Salt Creek drainage where soils are deep,well drained <br /> and often very sodic and moderately saline. Shadscale shrubland borders the greasewood <br /> shrubland along the dry, steep, south facing slopes in the shallower soils which are interspersed <br /> with rock outcrops. Juniper woodland is found along the ridge tops and steep north and west <br /> vi <br />