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(USGS Bulletin 510). Later in 1948, Wazd 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 area 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-Central 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 area 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-beazing units in the azea. The <br />A (King), B (Somerset), and C (Beaz) coal beds of the Lower Coal Member and the D <br />(Oliver), E (Hawks Nest), and the F-Seam coal beds of the Upper Coal Member have all <br />been mined within the North Fork Valley. <br />General dip in azea 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 are locatable on the surface. <br />WATER RESOURCES <br />The town of Paonia is situated about 10 miles west of the area and receives an average of <br />approximately 15 inches of precipitation annually. Given that precipitation increases as <br />elevation increases, the annual precipitation of the West Flat Iron would be expected to be <br />somewhat higher. An estimated 75% of the annual precipitation occurs during late winter <br />and eazly spring, mostly as snowfall. June, July, and August are often the driest months. <br />Well pads for the proposed project aze drained primarily by unnamed tributaries of Dry <br />Fork of Minnesota Creek. <br />VEGETATION <br />Vegetation in the E Seam MDW project area is dominated by the mountain shrub <br />communities of Gambel's oak, mountain sagebrush, with minor amounts of juniper and <br />snowberry interspersed. Sagebrush, and Gambel's oak occur in isolated stands typically <br />in the lower elevations of the azea. Aspen groves also occur in the drilling area. Vazious <br />grasses and other mountain shrubs occur sporadically throughout the area and on <br />previously reclaimed coal exploration roads and pads. No threatened, endangered, or <br />candidate plant species have been identified in the pad areas. Vegetation and reclamation <br />at previous MDW sites is described in a document titled, "Mountain Coal Company, <br />West Elk Mine 2004 Reclamation Photograph Project", and Mountain Coal Company's, <br />