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• -6- <br />The upper bedrock formation consists of 9 1:o 13 feet of thinly <br />bedded, dark gray to black shale and coal. This zone has weathered <br />noticeably over the 3± year exposure. The face of the layer slopes at <br />about 45 degrees. <br />The upper shale was underlain by 20± feet of more resistant, fine- <br />grained sandstone and sandy siitstone. This formation is tan to brown in <br />color with obvious blocks 1 to 3 feet in size. The exposed face slopes <br />between 55 and 65 degrees. <br />The sandstone becomes relatively massive and apparently very resistant <br />to slaking about 23 feet below the top of the highwall. This formation is <br />light gray in color and fine - grained. The rock face is nearly vertical <br />with most areas sloping at about 80 degrees. Block sizes are generally <br />• greater than the overlying brown sandstone with most potential blocks <br />larger than 3 feet. <br />Four to seven feet of thinly bedded shale exists below the gray sand- <br />stone and is, in turn, underlain by an additional zone of gray sandstone, <br />5± feet thick. The shale is apparently highly slakeable and has eroded <br />away between the sandstone zones resulting in 1 to 2± foot depressions at <br />some locations. <br />About 5 feet of relatively slakeable shale occurs below the second <br />layer of gray sandstone, just above the Wadge coal seam. This formation <br />is thinly bedded and dark gray. The face of the shale slopes at about <br />70 degrees and has experienced some weathering. Block sizes are about <br />6 inches. <br />The structural geology of the different bedrock layers varies. <br />• In general, the bedding strike approximately parallels the pit cut direction <br />