Laserfiche WebLink
underground methods. The presence of methane has long been established ~n the region, first identified as a <br />coal mining hazard dunng the early days of mining In 1910 a methane explosion in the Primero mine, located <br />20 miles west of Tnmdad killed more than 100 men More recently. within the last ten years, companies such <br />as Evergreen Resources. Wilkams. and Barrett Resources have established extensive coal bed methane <br />production. <br />''~~. <br />', t, <br />t: <br />,'h. <br />' ', <br />- Affected areas <br />>ti{?; , <br />:.,, ~\ ` <br />'~ 1 a ` ~.~ ~ I~ <br />}~ <br />_ ~y~``` n <br />"4~ <br />'`~ ~ i. ~~~ ~. Well 28-11 <br />,. ._-_,. <br />- ~ <br />:~ <br />~ ~ ^t <br />Y~ ~ <br />~I~cs„~.~~ , °':~~~~ ,\y~, Purgatove River ~-' <br />r- ,.,_~, ~ r. .~~~ residence <br />'v ~LL~ Y ; <br />,. <br />~r~:? -,~ `~~ •~~; Fault location <br />a ~.: / !~/f' , , /~~ (known) <br />/// <br />Specific setting <br />The area of investigation can be mostly descnbed as the south'/, of Section 28, T33S R67W (Figure 1). The <br />contaminated area is wdhm the north '/, of the south '/, of this Section along with multiple man-made features <br />such as coal exploration boreholes. gas wells. water mondoring wells underground coal mine workings. a <br />ventilation shall. and gas gathering pipelines <br />Geologic setting <br />The affected area Ices parallel to the Purgato~re Rover valley Dead or stressed vegetation occurs in an irrigated <br />pasture fTOUpaI pasturei and along the higher slopes north of Highway 12 in rangeland areas The sod profile, <br />where present consrsls of clayey soils which support warm season grasses native to the areas Older terrace <br />deposits of alluvial gravels and cobble site material underlie the soil profile and were clearly visible in the vrell <br />28-10 mud pit prior to its reclamation The underlying bedrock ~s the Raton formation, containing sdtstones, <br />sandstones, shale, and coal deposited in a deltaic environment dunng the Cretaceous period The Maxwell <br />seam ~s the Thickest seam in this area and contains the Golden Eagle mine workings slightly to the west of the <br />contaminated area. Above the Maxwell lie both the Red and the Blue coal seams along wdh other minor rider <br />seams. (Figure 2) Total coal thickness in the overburden including the Maxwell seam is nearly 30 feet m this <br />area. making the coal bed methane potential of this zone very high Faults in the subsurface were confirmed by <br />