Water-quality data for wells and springs in the Powder River structural basin and adjacent areas in northeastern Wyoming are presented in three tables. The first table lists results of analyses of common constituents for 748 groundwater sites. The second table presents dissolved trace-metal data for 220 groundwater sites. Radiochemical data are listed in the third table for 65 groundwater sites. The locations of the sites listed in the tables are shown on a map of the area.
Coal-spoil data and water-quality data for samples collected from two Wyoming coal-mining areas are presented in six tables. The Medicine Bow and Seminoe Number 1 Mines in the Hanna basin comprise one site, and the Cordero Mine in the Powder River basin is the other site. The data consist of X-ray diffraction analysis of spoil samples, analysis of the saturated paste extract of spoil samples, sulfur-forms analysis of spoil samples, analysis of water samples obtained from batch-mixing experiments, and analysis of ground-water samples collected from wells in the spoil and coal aquifers. The data were collected as part of a regional study which will evaluate methods used to predict post-mining ground-water quality of aquifers affected by the strip mining of coal in the West.
The water resources of the small basin (85 square miles) were examined before the expected start of large-scale coal mining. Streamflow was intermittent, resulting primarily from snowmelt and rainstorms. Average annual runoff was estimated at 2,500 acre-feet. The 1976 runoff was 2,040 acre-feet. The near absence of snowpack in 1977 resulted in greatly reduced runoff, less than 200 acre-feet. Ground water is obtainable from the Mesaverde Formation, the Lance and Fort Union Formations, and from alluvium. Yields from most wells and springs are less than 10 gallons per minute. Dissolvedsolids concentrations in Separation Creek ranged from less than 100 to more than 1,500 milligrams per liter during 1976. Daily mean sediment concentration ranged from 34 to 11,900 milligrams per liter. Stream biota was limited by the intermittent nature of the streamflow and by stream habitat. Groundwater quality varied with the formation Both ground water and surface water are generally well suited for their present use as stock water.
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