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• Finally, even if water was available for storage at the mine site, the release of stored water to Chandler Creek or <br />the other drainages in the small volumes necessary to offset mine usage would be wasteful and impractical <br />because it would razely, if ever, reach the confluence with the Arkansas River. <br />DESCRIPTION OF PHYSICAL SETTING <br />Geology <br />The Northfield Mine proposed permit boundary and geologic features is shown in Figure 2. The property is <br />located northeast of the Wet Mountain fault, straddling the axis of the Chandler syncline. The syncline <br />generally plunges northwesterly in this azea; its southwestern limb is steeply inclined near the Wet Mountain <br />fault, but its northeastern limb is much less inclined. Since the land surface slopes to the northeast, the <br />subcrops or outcrops of the geologic units comprising the syncline aze higher in elevation on the southwestern <br />rim than on the northeastern rim. Geologic units important to the hydrogeology of the area are the Pierre <br />Shale, Trinidad Sandstone, and Vermejo and Raton Formations. More recent deposits of colluvium and <br />alluvium aze present on hillsides and in drainages within the permit azea. <br />• The primary coal beazing formation in the synclinal basin is the Vermejo, which is approximately 925 feet <br />thick in this area. A generalized stratigraphic column of the mine site vicinity is shown on Figure 3. The coal <br />unit planned to be mined by Northfield is the Ocean Wave which lies approximately 215 feet above the top of <br />the Trinidad Sandstone. The Vermejo consists of a series of coal seams and sandstones, interbedded with <br />numerous mudstones and siltstones. The interbedded mudstones and siltstones act as aquicludes and greatly <br />restrict vertical ground water movement. According to records at the State Engineer's Office, existing wells in <br />the Vermejo generally have low yields and are reported to range from one gallon per minute to ten gallons per <br />minute. Variations in yields probably aze due to differing degrees of fracturing of the water-bearing strata. <br />Surface Water <br />The mine permit property mostly lies in the Chandler Creek drainage, a tributary of the Arkansas River. Fawn <br />Hollow and several other small unnamed drainages on the mine permit property aze generally tributary to the <br />Arkansas River, as shown in Figure 4. The locations, amounts and appropriation dates for water rights in the <br />• -4- <br />