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Appalachian Mine Soil Morphology and Properties

Effects of Weathering and Mining Method

Dep. of Crop and Environmental Sciences, 244 Smyth Hall, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0404

View larger version (34K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Typical landforms created in the Appalachian coal region by surface coal mining activities before (1A) and after (1B) passage and implementation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). Mining before SMCRA was generally smaller in scale and mining cuts excavated a higher proportion of preweathered, leached and oxidized strata. Post-SMCRA mines are generally much larger in extent and take deeper cuts into more reduced geologic strata.

View larger version (54K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Location of Powell River Project study area in Wise County, Virginia. Boundaries of detailed mine soil mapping areas are designated along with mine soil study pit locations for 1980 and 2002 studies and sampling.

View larger version (145K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Four-year-old mine soil profile sampled on Taggart Bench level in 1980. This soil possessed a well-developed A horizon associated with plant rooting and organic matter accumulation and a heavily compacted (densic) C horizon, which totally limited root and water penetration. The intervening AC horizon is not labeled, and the colored scale on the tape is in 10-cm increments.

View larger version (208K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Moderate medium and coarse subangular blocky aggregates broken out of the Bw horizon of a 12-yr-old mine soil formed from a predominantly siltstone spoil.