Laserfiche WebLink
The Fruitland Formation contains three minable coal seams. in ascending order, these are the Lewis <br />or "C" seam, the Cazbonero or "B" seam, and the Shamrock or "A" seam. The Lewis seam is <br />approximately 17 feet thick and consists of high volatile C bituminous coal. The Carbonero or "B" <br />seam is approximately 28 feet thick, contains afive-foot parting of shale and bone, lies 105 feet above <br />the Lewis seam, and is a high volatile C bituminous coal. The Shamrock or "A" seam is located about <br />87 feet above the Carbonero seam, is about 21 feet thick. and is classified as a high volatile C <br />bituminous coal. The Shamrock seam is overlain by 0 to 120 feet of overburden strata in the permit <br />area. The entire overburden section is in the Fruitland Formation. <br />The Kirtland Shale conformably overlies the Fruitland Formation. This shale is divided into three <br />main members -the upper and lower shales and the middle Farmington Sandstone. The Farmington <br />Sandstone member forms a permanent ridge separating Carbon Junction Canyon and REA Canyon. <br />The lower shale member consists of gray to gray green shale and sandy shales. The upper shale <br />member consists of interbedded shales and sandstones. <br />The Quaternary terrace deposits consist of Pleistocene aged gravels related to glaciation in the area. <br />Three gravel terrace layers have been mapped in the azea and represent previous flood plains of the <br />Animas River. These deposits vary between 1 and 100 feet thick and consist of boulders and cobbles <br />in a silt clay matrix. <br />Quaternary alluvial deposits are primarily located along the Animas River. Thin (less than three feet <br />thick) isolated alluvial bodies are located in Carbon Junction Canyon. <br />Ground Water Hydrology <br />The applicant has supplied sufficient information to describe the quality and quantity of ground water <br />within the permit application (Section 2.04.7(1). The following description of ground water was <br />prepazed using information within the permit application, information in the Chimney Rock Mine <br />permit application (C-81-023), and site observations by DMG staff. <br />Ground water in the general area of the mine occurs in the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone, the interbedded <br />and lenticular sandstones and coal seams of the Fmitland Fotmation, the Quaternary Terrace Deposits <br />and alluvium of the Animas River. <br />The Pictured Cliffs Sandstone is a regional sandstone aquifer which overlies and underlies the lowest <br />coal seam to be mined, the "C" seam. No registered water wells are presently completed in this <br />aquifer in the general area. Springs along Carbon Junction Canyon are, in part, supplied by <br />discharges from this aquifer, given the outcropping and subcropping of this sandstone in the stream <br />valley. Spring flows in Carbon Junction Canyon vary from seeps of less than a gallon per minute to <br />over five gallons per minute. During dry periods in the fall, flows are normally nonexistent. Flows <br />are expected to vary seasonally, with increased flow rate recorded in spring and early summer. <br />Ground water flow may not be uniform throughout the Pictured Cliffs sandstone. The applicant's <br />consultant had an 18-inch section of core from the Lower Fruitland-Upper Picmred Cliffs transition <br />s <br />