ABSTRACT:
Water quality problems associated with surface mining of coal are part of larger water quality management problems in western Maryland. Sediment originates from both point and nonpoint sources, including significant contributions from abandoned or pre-law surface mined areas. Using a consistent methodology and detailed site data, sediment contributions from pre-law federal and state regulations and more recent surface mined areas can be estimated. Given the uncertainties in characterizing abandoned mine land contributions, scenarios of low, medium, and high loads were calculated using various rainfall conditions. This analysis developed a sediment budget for all point, nonpoint, and mined sources for a 33,656-ha (83,148-acre) basin in western Maryland defined by U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Unit 0207002. Surface mining was a significant contributor of sediment relative to other point and nonpoint sources under all scenarios. During a low-rainfall year, surface mining of coal was projected to contribute 14% of the riverine sediment load. This value could reach 42% under high-rainfall conditions.
Footnotes
F. D. Arnold is a program manager with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Rockville, Maryland, 20910 and J. S. Angle is an associate professor of agronomy. Department of Agronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742. Scientific article No. 7771 and Contribution No. A-4767 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742. The authors thank Leonard Gianessi and Henry Peskin of Resources for the Future for providing the point- and nonpoint-source data, Tony Abar and Al Hooker of the Maryland Bureau of Mines for their assistance in prviding strip mine data, and Jeff Foser of the Soil Conservation Service for his assistance in developing USLE factors for strip mined sites.
- Copyright 1989 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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