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1 <br />' Section 2.04.5 General Description of Hydrology and Geology. <br />(1) (a) No information on the surface and ground water systems <br />has been furnisf~ed by the Division. <br />(b) Surface Water System. The mine permit area is draineD <br />by Sylvester Gulch, an ephemeral stream, directly into the <br />North Fork of the Gunnison River. IIO flow or water guality <br />information is available for small ephemeral streams. <br />Sylvester Gulch and the other small ephemeral streams in the <br />permit area, all of them located south of the North Fork of <br />the Gunnison River, provide an extremely small portion of the <br />' total flow in the North Fork of the Gunnison River. No <br />information on the Sylvester Gulch flow is currently available, <br />' so it is not discussed separately from the I9orth Fork of the <br />Gunnison River. The flow in the Dlorth Fork is moderated <br />' somewhat by Paonia Reservoir which was filled starting in 1961. <br />From 1967 to 1974 the maximum and minimum flows recorded at <br />the U.S.G.S, gauging station (9-1325) near Somerset were 5100 <br />cfs (cubic feet per second; May 20, 1973) and 40 cfs (January 7, <br />' 1968 and January 24, 1969). D1ean monthly flows for the 1967 <br />to 1974 period are presented yraphically on Figure 2.04.5(1)(6). Coal <br />Creek and Fvithracite Creek join the North Fork of the Gunnison River <br />' below Paonia Reservoir. These major tributaries contribute to <br />the wide fluctuation in flow rates in the river despite the <br />' moderating influence of the reservoir. Water in the North Fork <br />of the Gunnison River is a seasonally variable, soft to <br />moderately hard, calcium-magnesium-sodium-bicarbonate type water. <br />The major concentration of the chemical constituents, i.e., <br />' calcium, magnesium, sodium and bicarbonate, are negatively <br />correlated with flow (i.e., the greater the flow the less the <br />concentrations of these constituents). Preliminary investigations <br />' during the Fall of 1975 showed that trace element concentrations <br />in the North Fork of the Gunnison River (as well as in Minnesota <br />1 <br />' 29 <br />