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• and. to a lesser degree. the Wolf Creek are the primary seams of <br />interest for mining. Both have been developed by surface and <br />underground mining methods in the area. The Lennox seam is thinner <br />and not as laterally consistent as the other two and has been mined <br />by surface methods where it was feasible to do so. The Wadge and <br />Wolf Creek seams are both split into an upper and lower seam in <br />places; the Wolf Creek more consistently so than the Wadge. <br />None of the coal beds outcrop on or near either tract. Locally. <br />there are four coal beds of fairly consistent lateral extent. The <br />oldest seam is the Lower Wolf Creek. It averages approximately 2.9 <br />feet thick and pinches out in Section 20. The Upper Wolf Creek seam <br />averages 8.7 feet thick in Tract A and 5.0 feet thick in Tract B. <br />The Lower Wadge seam is only about 2.8 feet thick in Tract A and 1.4 <br />feet thick in Tract B. The Upper Wadge seam is currently being <br />developed in the Foidel Creek.Mine. It is fairly consistent in terms <br />of thickness and lateral extent. It averages 9.4 feet thick in Tract <br />A and 9.7 feet thick in Tract B. The Lennox seam. the youngest in <br />this group. is only about 2.0 feet thick and is absent from a good <br />deal of Tract B. The coal quality parameters fall in normal range <br />for the subituminous coals of this area. <br />Oil and Gas: The oil and gas mineral rights are privately owned. <br />The Tow Creek Participating Area (PA) is located nearby in section <br />18. There are no oil or gas wells on either Tract A or Tract B at <br />this time. <br />Saleable Minerals: There are no known saleable mineral materials on <br />either parcel. <br />Paleontology <br />The Williams"Fork Formation has been known to produce plant, <br />invertebrate, trace, and occasionally vertebrate fossils in the <br />sandstone and shales that make up the overburden, as well as in the <br />coal beds themselves. Some of the plant and all of the vertebrate <br />fossils have been considered scientifically significant. Thus the <br />Williams Fork is considered to be a Class Is. formation for the <br />potential for occurrence of significant fossils (Armstrong, 1989). <br />Hydrology <br />The hydrology of Twentymile Park has been studied rather extensively <br />by the U. S. Geological Survey. Water Resources Division and Cyprus <br />Western Coal Company and its subsidiaries and predecessors. Cyprus <br />Western and its subsidiaries have submitted detailed information and <br />analyses from their long-term monitoring in the application package <br />for Mining Permit C-056-82, previous permit applications for the <br />surface mining operations. and the application for this action. <br />. Groundwater <br />Geologic structure. as well as lithology. and to a limited extent, <br />previous mine-related disturbance, control groundwater occurrence and