Laserfiche WebLink
West Elk Mine <br />• <br />• <br />Table 16 <br />Location, Flow; and Overburden Thickness for Springs in the Permit Area <br /> Overburden Overburden <br />Spring Basin Flow Range (gpm) Source Thickness Thickness <br /> Spring Fall (feet from B- (feet from E- <br /> Seam Mining) Seam Mining) <br />J-10 D Fork 0.07-7.5 1.5-8.1 300 <br />WCC-12 D Fork See * 590 <br />WCC-14 D Fork See * 590 <br />WCC-15 D Fork 0.48* 600 <br />WCC-2 D Fork See * 690 <br />WCC-1 D Fork See * 740 <br />D-9 D Fork See * 780 <br />D-8 D Fork 2.88* 480 <br />J-5 D Fork 0.94-6.0 See 500 <br />21 D Fork 3.75-7.5 1.25-11.5 620 <br />J-2 Lick Creek See *-0.23 Seep-0.08 380 <br />WCC-22 Lick Creek See * 420 <br />R-5 Lick Creek See * 500 <br />R-10 Lick Creek See * AC 650 <br />WCC-3 Lick Creek 0.94 920 <br /> <br />* = One Measurement Only C = Colluvium <br />A = Alluvium M = Snow Melt interference <br />B = Bedrock S = Fed by upgradient spring <br />= Post-mining Data 2 = Resource has been undermined, but data are baseline. <br />Since 1978, discharge rate data have been collected from 83 springs. Flow rates range from 0 gpm to 120 gpm. It is <br />important that a majority of the springs have at least 300 feet of overburden above the highest seam to be mined. The <br />significance of this is discussed in detail in the Probable Hydrologic Consequences discussion in Section 2.05.6. <br />Four springs in the permit area exhibit significant flows: Spring G-26a (peak flow during spring runoff up to 75 gpm) <br />in Lone Pine Gulch, G-24 (up to 120 gpm) in Sylvester Gulch, and G-25 (up to 90 gpm) and G-31 (up to 45 gpm) in <br />Gribble Gulch. The springs with the largest past flow rates in the Apache Rocks pen-nit revision area are identified as D- <br />2, J-4, and J-10 with peak discharge rates ranging from 8.9 gpm to 30 gpm. <br />The flow rates of all springs are highly seasonal. Most spring flows will peak during the late spring/early summer and <br />will diminish throughout the sununer until only flowing at a trickle or drying up. The increased flows usually will not <br />return until the following spring except for short duration flows in response to intense stonn events. An ideal example of <br />the seasonal cycle is represented by Spring G-26a located in Lone Pine Gulch, (see Map 37) and shown in Figure 11. <br />There are approximately 50 springs in the South of Divide permit area. Most of the springs are located along the <br />5 g <br />valley floors of Dry Fork, Poison Gulch, and Lick Creek. There is only one spring (Spring 21 - Deer Creek <br />Domestic Springs Pipeline) that has been decreed in the South of Divide area to the south of Minnesota Reservoir. <br />The State Engineer's Office does not have diversion records for the structure. so it is not clear if the spring is still in <br />use. <br />There are three springs (WCC-24, J-7, and J-2) that had flow at all of the initial observations (Map 37). Of these <br />springs only J-7 is within the influence of the projected longwall panels. Springy J-7 is located along Dry Fork with <br />an overburden depth of 680 feet over longwall panel E2. Additional spring information is contained in Exhibit 71, <br />updated for Dry Fork Lease. <br />2.04-104 Revised A'ovewber 2004 PRI G: Rev. Apri12006 PRIO: Sep. 2007 PR12; Feb. 2008 PR 12