Laserfiche WebLink
EIS, 1989; the Amended Land and Resource Management Plan - Grand Mesa, <br />Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, 1991; and the Grand Mesa, <br />• Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests Oil and Gas Leasing FE15, 1993. <br />A brief description of the specific resources that are within the Box <br />Canyon Tract is detailed below. <br />Minerals <br />The Box Canyon Tract lies in the Paonia-Somerset coal field which <br />contains medium to high coal development potential denosics. The main coal <br />beds within the area are found in the Upper Cretaceous Mesaverde Formation, <br />which is overlain by the early Tertiary Wasatch Formation and underlain by <br />the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The two principle mineable coal seams <br />are in ascending order, the "B" and "D/E" seams. Ocher seams within the <br />tract, A, C, and F, are considered too thin (less than 6 feet) and <br />discontinuous to mine. <br />The Upper B seam ranges in thickness from 9 to 16 feet. The average <br />analysis of the coal seam is 5.668 moisture, 7.668 ash, 0.578 sulfur and <br />12,975 Btu's per pound. The tract contains an estimated 67 million tons of <br />in-place B coal seam reserves. The D/E seam ranges in thickness from 6 to <br />12 feet. A large portion of the D/E reserves are not mineable because of <br />coal thickness and known conditions of poor roof and/or partings creating <br />• difficulties with extraction. The D/E seam analytical data averaged around <br />as follows: 9.318 ash, 6.458 moisture, 0.578 sulfur and 12,162 Btu`s. The <br />tract contains an estimated 17 million tons of in-place D/E seam zeserves. <br />The total in-place coal rese ryes are appro:cimately 64 million tons of which <br />• 37 million tons are recoverable. <br />Outcropping on the tract is the Teztiary ::asatch Formation, Upper <br />Cretaceous Mesaverde Formation and Quaternary deposits. The Quaternary <br />deposiCS are an unsorted mist*_ure of soil and rock formed by various <br />mass-wasting processes as landslides, earth flows, soil creep and debris <br />avalanches. They also include river deposits and slope colluvium as well <br />as Quaternary unconsolidated deposits derived from the Wasatch Formation. <br />The coal bearing sedimentary strata of the Mesaverde Formation is <br />relatively flat lying with a regional dip of 3.5 degrees to the <br />north-northeast. Local dips of up to 7.0 degrees are also found. <br />Exploration drilling on and in the area of the tract is not adequate to <br />precisely locate the trace of any fault or other finite structural feature <br />within the tract. However, USGS Map C-115, compiled by R. Dunrud shows <br />lineaments visible from aerial photography along Sylvester Gulch and <br />parallel to several drainages. The overburden overlying the B seam in the <br />application area ranges from 250 feet at the northern boundary of the tract <br />to approximately 2,200 fact under West Flatiron Mesa. <br /> The potential for the discovery of conventional resources of oil and <br /> gas under the leased area is very slight . Dry wells have been drilled to <br /> the Dakota Sandstone :. few mi'_es to the southwest and to Che northwest of <br /> the permit area. There is a possibility of finding m ethane in the coal <br /> seams. Thera are no oil a r.d gas leases Located on or near the application <br />• area . " <br />10 <br />