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from several feet up to about eight feet total coal thickness. It <br />is invariably split by coaly shales and is not presently being <br />mined in the Somerset coal district. <br />The clastic sediments associated with the coals of the Paonia Member <br />are more continental in character than those of the underlying Bowie <br />Member, although occasional marine sands apparently represent minor <br />transgressions of the Cretaceous marine environment. The top of the Paonia <br />Member was marked by Johnson as a thick continuous sandstone that can be <br />seen outcropping along the drainage of the North Fork of the Gunnison River <br />in the vicinity of the Hawk's Nest Mine. <br />Johnson described the Barren Member as the upper part of the Mesaverde <br />Formation overlying the thick sandstone at the top of the Paonia Member and <br />• underlying the Ohio Creek Paleocene sediments. As the name implies, there <br />are no mineral coals in this sequence; the Barren Member probably repre- <br />sents a distal fluvial environment with little or no development of paludal <br />nature. <br />Structure <br />The structural geology of the permit area appears to be quite simple. <br />The sedimentary strata of the Mesaverde Formation (the coal-bearing strata) <br />are relatively flat lying with a regional dip of 3.5 degrees to the north- <br />northeast. Local dips of up to 6.25 degrees are also found. <br />There are three sets of fracture systems found in the area. The most <br />prominent set trends northwest-southeast and northeast-southwest. The less <br />pronounced system runs north-south and east-west and is seen only locally. <br />• <br />2.04-16 <br />