Influences of strip mining on the hydrologic environment of parts of Beaver Creek basin, Kentucky, 1973-74

Abstract

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under tide: PREFACE This report is the fourth in a series on the environmental effects of strip mining of coal in Cane Branch basin, McCreary County, Kentucky. The series of reports, published by the U.S. Geological Survey as Professional Paper 427, is the product of a study by several Federal and State agencies. The physical environment of the study areas and the history of mining in the basin are described in the first report, Professional Paper 427-A (Musser, 1963). Results obtained during the study period 1955-59 and definitions of terms are given in the second report, Professional Paper 427-B (Collier and others, 1964). The third report, Professional Paper 427-C (Collier, Pickering, and Musser, 1970), describes the results of the investigation since 1955, with emphasis on the period 1959-66. With the end of the 1966 water year, the project became dormant until the 1974 water year, when it was reactivated for one year. The purpose of the reactivation was to determine the changes in the hydrologic characteristics of Cane Branch after the intervening seven years. This report describes the results of that investigation. in CONTENTS Preface III Summary, by Robert A. Krieger Dl Suggestions for further study 3 Conclusions 4 Introduction 4 Land use and cover conditions, by Beecher J. Hines 6 Precipitation and runoff, by John A. McCabe 6 Introduction 6 Instrumentation 6 Data available 7 Runoff characteristics 8 Flow duration and variability 9 Peak discharges 10 Monthly runoff 11 Annual summaries of precipitation and runoff 11 Conclusions 11 Ground water, by Robert W. Davis 11 Geochemistry of water, by Robert W. Davis 13 Introduction 13 Helton Branch 15 West Fork Cane Branch 16 Cane Branch study area 18 Pools in mined areas 18 Tributaries of Cane Branch 21 Cane Branch 22 Comparison of chemical erosion in Cane Branch and Helton Branch study areas 23 Conclusions 31 Erosion and deposition, by John A. McCabe 32 Introduction 32 Erosion and deposition Continued Erosion from the southwest spoil bank D32 Sediment deposition in Cane Branch 34 Erosion and sediment yield, by Beecher J. Hines 34 Conclusions 37 Suspended-sediment transport, by John F. Santos 38 Suspended-sediment transport at Cane Branch gaging station 38 Storms 42 Conclusions 42 Stream-bottom fauna, by Albert R. Jones 44 Methods 44 Results 45 Comparison of accumulated bottom-fauna data 45 Conclusions 45 Fish population, by John L. Boaze 45 Methods of conducting fish-population studies 46 Results of sampling fish populations 46 Conclusions 48 Tree growth on spoils, by Thomas M. Yanosky and Robert S. Sigafoos 48 Methods 49 Composition and distribution of vegetation in sampled areas 49 Quantity of vegetation 49 Growth rate of trees on spoils and on an abandoned farm 51 Conclusions 52 Selected references 53

National water summary 1983: Hydrologic events and issues

“…Water pollution has occurred as a result of mineral production (Collier and others, 1964;Dyer, 1983;Grubb and Ryder, 1972;Hopkins, 1963;Kiesler and others, 1983;Krieger, 1983;Krieger and Hendrickson, 1960;Leist and others, 1982;Musser, 1963;others, 1981, 1983). Coal mining and oil and gas production occur in both the Eastern and Western Coal Fields of Kentucky, and oil and gas production occurs in the Mississippian Plateau region.…”