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2.04.6 GEOLOGY DESCRIPTION ! The aerial extent of the Vermejo Formation within the Pryor Mine Permit Area has changed greatly since strip mining activity began. From just south of the original Pryor Canyon channel to the northern limit of the 1981 partial permit .area, the strata including and overlying the Cameron seam have been removed and the complete succession of beds now outcrops along the foot of the , ridges to the west (see Revised Map 3). In the southwest quarter of Section 19, where the 1982(2) partial permit area lies, the stratigraphy remains intact except for the coal seams removed by past underground mining which is shown in Figure 2.04.6-1 and Table 2.04.6-1. The site specific stratigraphy of the southwest corner of Section 19 has been studied from exposed sections downstream of the culvert draining the unnamed channel south of Pryor Canyon and a drillhole log (Monitor Well No. 296519-1), 100 feet west of the western margin of the 1982(2) partial permit area (see Revised Map 3). These sections and other observations made at the existing mine pit to the northwest, show that all units are conformable with one another and that between the Cameron seam, the lowest coal bed to be mined and the Trinidad Sandstone, there is a shale bed with a thickness of about 4 . feet. The stratigraphic columns from the exposed sections and the drillhole are given in Tables 2.04.6-2 and 2.04.6-3 below end generalized cq>.umnar section is given in Figure 2:04.6-2. Table 2.04.6 - 2 Exposed Section Below Unnamed Channel Culvert Thickness Description -- (Top) Soil, sand and silt EROSIONAL SURFACE 30 in. Coal, the Cameron seam 14 in. Shale, dark brown, fissile 15 in. Shale, light-brown with bedding planes stained orange 17 in. Shale, very light brown with bedding planes stained light yellow 7 in. Coal, impure 14 ft+ (Bottom) Trinidad Sandstone, light yellow to white, very fine-grained, massive, . cross-bedded. 9 ~ " 1.~ JFSA-15 ~,; F_ 5AT0 & ASSOCIATES, INC.