Assessing the cumulative impacts of surface mining and coal bed methane development on shallow aquifers in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming
Conference
·
OSTI ID:613866
- Dept. of Interior, Casper, WY (United States)
Large scale surface coal mining taken place along the cropline of the Wyodak-Anderson coal seam since approximately 1977. Groundwater impacts due to surface mining of coal and other energy-related development is a primary regulatory concern and an identified Office of Surface Mining deficiency in the Wyoming coal program. The modeled aquifers are the upper unit (coal) of the Paleocene Fort Union Formation and the overlying Eocene Wasatch Formation. A regional groundwater model covering 790 square miles was constructed using MODFLOW, to simulate the impacts from three surface coal mines and coal bed methane development occurring downdip. Assessing anisotropy of the coal aquifer, quality checking of in situ aquifer tests and database quality control were precursors to modelling. Geologic data was kriged to develop the structural model of the aquifers. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was utilized to facilitate storage, analysis, display, development of input modelling arrays and assessment of hydrologic boundaries. Model output presents the predicted impacts of likely development scenarios, including impacts from coal bed methane development and surface coal mining through anticipated life of mining, and surface mining impacts independent of gas development.
- OSTI ID:
- 613866
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9705128--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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