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The proposed Project would include drilling along the southeastern edge of the Piceance <br />Basin within the Somerset Coal Field, occurring on the Somerset U.S.G.S. 7 1/2 minute <br />quadrangle map. <br />Initial geological work, in this azea was, completed by W. T. Lee (1912), who reported <br />his findings in, "Coal Fields of Grand Mesa and the West Elk Mountains, Colorado" <br />(USGS Bulletin 510). Later in 1948, Ward H. Johnson published a USGS map of the <br />Paonia Coal Field incorporating drill hole data generated through a USGS and U.S. <br />Bureau of Mines drilling program. The following yeaz Johnson further described the <br />geology of the Minnesota Creek azea in USBM Technical Paper 721. More recently, in <br />1989, C. R. Dunrud compiled a coal resources map of the region (USGS Map C-115). In <br />1998 the Colorado Geological Survey published Availability of Coal Resources in <br />Colorado: Somerset Quadrangle, West-Centcal Colorado (CGS Resource Series 36). <br />The general stratigraphy of the area consists of members of the Mesa Verde Formation of <br />the Upper Cretaceous System underlying the Wasatch Formation of Tertiary Age. The <br />Barren Member of the Mesa Verde formation crops out lowest in the azea with the <br />overlying Ohio Creek member exposed along many of the steeper slopes. Above the <br />Mesa Verde, rocks of the Wasatch Formation are exposed. The Upper and Lower Coal <br />Members of the Mesa Verde Formation are the major coal-bearing units in the azea. The <br />A (King), B (Somerset), and C (Bear) coal beds of the Lower Coal Member and the D <br />(Oliver), E (Hawks Nest), and the F-Seam coal beads of the Upper Coal Member have all <br />been mined within the North Fork Valley. <br />General dip in area of the methane drainage project drilling is 3 to 4 degrees to the <br />northeast. Stratigraphic displacements and faults are known to occur in West Elk Mine. <br />Known geologic data does not indicate that these faults aze locatable on the surface. <br />WATER RESOURCES <br />The town of Paonia, situated about 10 miles west of the azea, averages approximately 15 <br />inches of precipitation annually. Given that precipitation increases as elevation increases, <br />the annual precipitation of the West Flat Iron would be expected to be somewhat higher. <br />An estimated 75% of the annual precipitation occurs during late winter and early spring, <br />mostly as snowfall. June, July, and August aze often the driest months. <br />MDW sites for the proposed project aze drained primarily by an unnamed tributary of <br />Deep Creek that flows northwestward into Ravens Gulch and by intermittent streams that <br />comprise the south end of Sylvester Gulch. Both Ravens Gulch and Sylvester Gulch flow <br />into the North Fork of the Gunnison River. A portion of Panel 17S would flow to the Dry <br />Fork of Minnesota Creek. <br />VEGETATION <br />