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4 . 12 <br />4.2 HYDROLOGY <br />• 4.2.1 Regional Hydrology <br />The proposed mine area lies north of the Grand Valley in the rugged terrain drained by East <br />Salt Creek and its deeply incised tributaries. Reaches of East Salt Creek in the area of the <br />activity are intermittent by definition. The stream flows generally southwestward through the <br />permit area to the Colorado River, a distance of about 20 miles. All tributaries of East Salt <br />Creek traversing the lease area are ephemeral. All such channels are a result of ephemeral <br />streams which flow only in direct response to precipitation in the immediate watershed or in <br />response to the melting of a cover of snow or ice, and which have channel bottoms that are <br />always above the local water table. <br />Strata underlying the lease area strike north-northwestward and dip one two three degrees <br />northeastward up valley in the opposite direction to stream flow. Thus, the Cameo coal seam, <br />which would be mined under the proposed action, is exposed in the precipitous slopes bordering <br />East Salt Creek and its tributaries in all but the northeastern part of the lease area upstream <br />from the mouth of Spink Canyon. There, the Cameo bed dips below the floor of the East Salt <br />• Creek Valley at an elevation of about 5,600 feet. <br />No springs or seeps issuing from the Cameo seam or from sandstone immediately above <br />or below the seam have been observed in the area of East Salt Creek. Permeable beds <br />(sandstones and coal seams) Below stream level should be saturated. Thus, the Cameo coal <br />seam is inferred to be saturated in the northeastern part of the tract where it dips below the <br />level of East Salt Creek as proven by results of exploration drilling and as shown on Figure <br />4.2-3. (Also See Appendix G). <br />The Bookcliffs Coal Feld area is considered a desert and only a few springs have been <br />located within the coal bearing strata (Erdman, 1934). The only springs have been located at <br />the old Bookcliff Mine (Section 18, T 10 S, R 99111 workings in the Cameo Coal Seam . One of <br />these springs had a flow of about 1.5 gallons of alkaline water per minute and was known as <br />the largest spring of usable water on the Bookcliffs (Erdman, 1934). Several hundred feet <br />higher than the first spring, at the base of the Cameo Coal Zone, another small spring was <br />located. <br />r <br />A~ Volume 1 4 -29 -96 <br />