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THE EXTENT OF MINE DRAINAGE INTO STREAMS OF THE CENTRAL APPALACHIAN AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGIONS
Citation:
Hill, B H., J M. Lazorchak, A. T. Herlihy, F H. McCormick, M. B. Griffith, P Haggerty, B J. Rosenbaum, AND A. Liu. THE EXTENT OF MINE DRAINAGE INTO STREAMS OF THE CENTRAL APPALACHIAN AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGIONS. Presented at The EMAP Symposium on Western Ecological Systems, San Francisco, CA, April 6-8, 1999.
Description:
Runoff and drainage from active and inactive mines are contaminating streams throughout the United States with acidic and metal contaminated waters and sediments. The extent of mining impacts on streams of the coal bearing region of the Central Appalachians and the metal bearing regions of the Rocky Mountains were assessed by three approaches. First, chemistry data from streams sampled by the USEPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) and Regional EMAP (REMAP) were used to classify streams based on acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), sulfate, metals, and chloride concentrations of the water. High sulfate and metal concentrations served as excellent indicators of mine drainage impacts in the watersheds. In the second approach, we determined the extent of mining activity within each U.S. Geological Survey 8-digit hydrologic catalog unit within the study regions and its proximity to streams based on classified thematic mapper (TM) satellite imagery and the USEPA's River Reach File Version 3 (RF3) data. Our third approach, using biological data collected from the EMAP and REMAP streams, looked at the correlation of these data with the stream chemical classification, and estimated the extent of mining impact based on biotic indices and microbial respiration. The stream chemistry approach estimated that about 9% of the stream length in the regions were impacted by mine drainage. The TM approach estimated that 7% of the stream length in the regions were vulnerable to mining impacts. The stream biota indicated that the extent of mining impacts to streams might be as high as 50% of the stream length in the regions.