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EXISTING ENVIRONPIENT DESCRIPTION <br />The proposed Pryor mine lies at [he western edge of the Great Plains of <br />Colorado in the Raton-Trinidad Coal Field. The area is predominately a <br />semiarid, shortgrass ecosystem. The gently sloping, porCions of the permit <br />area are characterized by a diversity of graces, Corbs, and low shrubs. <br />The steeper slopes have a cover of pinon and juniper, interspersed with <br />decidious shrubs. <br />Land-use, as described in section 2.04.3 of the application, is basically <br />rangeland in the permit and adjacent area. Present rangeland conditions <br />are poor to fair using Soil Conservation Service's standards. This poor <br />condition is due in parC to the extensive past underground coal mining and <br />the associated surface disturbances. Pfap 2 of this document shma the <br />horizontal extent of pas[ mining within the permit area and the portals of <br />other mines within the adjacent area. Open shafts, waste piles, and <br />subsidence features have been mapped within this area by the Inactive <br />Elise Reclamation section of [he Division. 'fhe location and extent of <br />acreage disturbed by previous mining is presented in sx ties 2.04(4) of <br />the application.' <br />'there are no known cultural or historic resources listed on the \ational <br />Register of }lis[oric Places w.ithiu the permit and adj;ucnt area. This <br />conclusion is based on a letter from the Colorado }listo ri cal Socii~r~ <br />presented as page 31 of the permit application. <br />Geology of the permit and adjacent area is described in sections 2.04.5 <br />and 2.04.6 of the permit application. The permit area lies on the northern <br />flank of the Raton liasin Ceal Field. Outcropping formations in [he <br />I;eneral area are illustrated on figure 1 of this document. The oldest <br />e>:posed unit is the Trinidad Sandstone of Cretaceous age, a possible <br />regional aquifer. This unit was Eolloc:ed by the shalln~.~ water, deltaic, <br />and swamp deposits of the hermejo Formation. `lost of the post mining in <br />the l:alsenburg area has hems concentrated in six of the sight lenticular <br />coal beds of Che upper hecmejo and lower Raton Formatirnis. There are <br />numerous, near vertical, Tertiary dikes axposed in the area. The dikes <br />appear to have filled fracCUres in sediments as a result of tectonics <br />rralated to the synclinal fold of [he basin. Strurturn] dips in the permit <br />Wren are relatively gen t]c and range frrnn 4o Cn 6° to the wesC-suu[h•..est <br />towards the synclinal psis. Several faults striking nm-th-south were <br />intcrpre.Ced to exist within the permit area as is she~~:n nn Cigure 2 of <br />this report. <br />