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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.
