PERMFILE51443

• Permit No: C1981031
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Section_Exhibit Name: Section 3: Rule 2.04
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

of the permit area. The Trinidad, the Vermejo and the Raton are comformable
on one another, but the Poison Canyon is in some places unconformable over the
Raton Formation, During the Tertiary time, dikes, sills and plugs associated
with the Spanish Peaks intrusive invaded the sedimentary rocks.
Two major structures dominate the region of concern: the Apishapa Arch
to the east and the La Vita Syncline to the zest (Figure 2,04.5-4). The axes
of both structures trend northwest-southeast. These structures control the
gentle, southeasterly dip of the beds in the permit area. In addition, beds
have been displaced locally by normal faults whose trend is mostly
sub-parallel to the regional fold structures.

•
3.0 Groundwater
There is little data on groundwater quality, quantity and movement in the
general vicinity of the mine permit area. It is, however, assumed that the
sandstone and limestone beds in the Purgatoire Formation, the Dakota
Sandstone, the Trinidad Sandstone, and the Poison Canyan Formation are major
artesian aquifers (McLaughlin, 1966). Recharge into these formations probably
takes place along their outcrops and below the alluvial deposits that cover
them along the valley bottoms. Regional groundwater movement is postulated to
be along the general dip of the beds, i.e., in the direction of the trough of
the Raton Basin in the southeast (see Figure 2.04,5-4). Because of the high
pressure that must exist in the deeper confined aquifers, upward leakage
through the aquicludes is expected to be taking place. Nhere erosion has cut
deep into the sedimentary sequence, ground water from the bedrock aquifers is
discharged as springs and seeps,
In and adjacent to the permit area, the Trinidad Sandstone is the major
potential aquifer and some existing wells tap this aquifer, Further zest, the
sandstone beds in the Vermejo and Raton Formations may also contain water as
they lie deeper below the overlying formations, Lateral variations in
lithology.and thickness .of beds, changes in the angle and direction of dip,
faulting and intrusion by dikes, sills and plugs can be expected to complicate
the local groundwater system,'
No records are available of wells that tap the deeper aquifers in the
area, lcLaughlin (1966) gives estimates of depths to these aquifers on the
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