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The second water-bearing stratum is the Cameo B seam. As with the other <br />• Mesa Verde Formation, the seam pitches approximately 5% to the northeast and <br />reaches a depth of 600 feet below the river. The coal seam receives and <br />transmits water from the river where the seam dips below the 4750 ft. elevation, <br />according to the Willard Owens report. A subsurface structural contour map <br />which depicts the outcrop and the horizontal extent of the seam within the permit <br />area is provided in Exhibit 15, Tab Section 6. The 4750 ft. contour and the <br />estimated subcrop of the Cameo B seam is shown on Exhibit 17. The fact that <br />water is present in the coal seam at elevations higher than the river indicates <br />recharge from additional sources such as precipitation, strata or geologic <br />structure. This is similar to the hydrologic characteristics of the Rollins <br />Sandstone in the Graystone report in Appendix 7-3. <br />The Rollins Sandstone formation, the thickest and most continuous sandstone in <br />the project area, is the third unit which contains groundwater. This unit is <br />• typically 85-95 feet thick in the permit area. As can be seen in Exhibits 13 and <br />39, Tab Section 6, the Rollins Sandstone underlies the entire permit area except <br />within DeBeque Canyon where it outcrops. The ,raystone report in Appendix 7- <br />3was prepared to identify the hydrologic charac . istics of this unit and its <br />potential as an aquifer. <br />Mining activities at the Roadside South Portal have encountered higher inflows <br />above the river level than the Willard Owens report would indicate. In an effort to <br />further evaluate the hydrologic properties of the coal seam and the Rollins <br />Sandstone, Appendix 7-2 was prepared. Collins wrote this report using literature <br />searches and personal experience with the local geology. The general low <br />transmissivity of each of the Mesa Verde units along with localized higher <br />transmissivity at fractured zones appears to typify these three groundwater <br /> <br />