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Mayo and Assoelales, LC <br />• groundwater issuing from the overlying Barren Member springs (Table 3). These well waters <br />are of the HCO~ SO;--Na' type (Table 3) and are statistically distinguishable from Barren <br />Member springs in each of these solute parameters. <br />Well and spring waters in the Upper and Lower Coal Members, including monitoring well <br />waters in the F-, E-, and B-Seams, are among the most saline groundwaters in the study area <br />(Table 3 and Figure 6). Most of these groundwaters are of the Na'- HCO; type (Figure 7c) <br />and they are statistically distinguishable from water in overlying Barren Member monitoring <br />wells in TDS (Table 4). F-, E-, and B-Seam grotndwaters are also statistically <br />distinguishable from Barren Member well waters in Nay, HCO;, and SO;" contents. The F-, <br />E-, and B-Seam groundwaters have greater Na' and HCO; concentrations and smaller SO; <br />• concentrattons. <br />Groundwater from in-mine Rollins Sandstone discharges have overall chemical compositions <br />similar to groundwater in the overlying F-, E-, and B-Seams; however, they have TDS <br />contents which are statistically distinguishable from the overlying grotndwaters samples <br />from F- and E-Seam wells (Table 3). They do not have TDS contents that are statistically <br />distinguishable from the samples in B-Seam wells because of the great variability in TDS <br />contents of B-Seam well waters (Figure 6). <br />4.2.2.4 Discussion <br />The statistical analyses of TDS (Table 4) demonstrate that groundwaters in unconsolidated <br />. sediments, Barren Member springs, Barren Member wells, coal seam wells, and in the <br />Characterization of Groundwater Systems in the Vicinity of the West Elk Mine, Somerset, Colorado <br />29 January 1999 <br />Page 43 <br />