Sedimentation and water quality in the West Branch Shade River Basin, Ohio, 1984 water year

Book · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:6672761

Childress, C J.O.; Jones, R L

Sedimentation in, and flooding of, the West Branch Shade River and its tributaries have been major concerns of residents and State and local officials. The area was extensively surface mined for coal between the mid-1940's and the early 1960's. The results have been elevated sediment loads and the subsequent loss of channel conveyance. Two sediment and stream gaging stations were established on West Branch Shade River in the area of past mining to provide data to evaluate the effectiveness of current reclamation activities on reducing sediment loads. A third station was established on the East Branch Shade River in an unmined area as a control. From October 1983 through September 1984, the annual suspended sediment yield/acre-ft of runoff was approximately two times as high for West Branch Shade River as for East Branch Shade River. In addition, water quality of West Branch indicates that acidity is higher, pH is lower, and concentrations of dissolved sulfate and metals are higher than for East Branch. The concentration of coal in bed material increased in the downstream direction along West Branch Shade River. The concentration downstream in the West Branch was more than 20 times greater than in the East Branch. 7 refs., 5 figs., 5 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 6672761
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ACIDIFICATION
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
COAL MINING
DISTRIBUTION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FEDERAL REGION V
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
LAND RECLAMATION
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
METALS
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
OHIO
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
RIVERS
SEDIMENTS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STREAMS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE MINING
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WATER QUALITY