Chemical, physical and mineralogical measurements and interpretations developed during previous studies in West Virginia have been improved and applied to coal overburden columns in 12 widely spaced Neighborhoods and 2 Adjunct locations in 10 states, from Pennsylvania on the Northeast to Alabama on the southeast and Oklahoma on the west. Field studies in each Neighborhood and Adjunct location involved logging and sampling soil and rock horizons from surface to coal, testing and improving field clues, determining properties of mine soils and water resulting from mining operations, and checking reclamation. Consistent overburden property relationships within basins and over particular named coals provide opportunities for generalizations and extra-polation between sampled sites. It appears feasible to use detailed information from overburden sampling and analysis as an aid to pre-mining planning of surface mining operations including reclamation and projected land use.

"August 1976." "Prepared by Division of Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Forestry, West Virginia University in cooperation with the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, Morgantown, West Virginia, under grant no. R802603-1." "Project Officer: Elmore C. Grim, EResource Extraction and Handling Division."