The Powder River Basin Located in the western United States, the Powder River Basin is currently the United States largest producer of coal, and the coal that is produced here is some of the cleanest coal that is used in coal burning power plants. By producing such large quantities of low sulfur, clean burning coal, the Powder River Basin is of great interest, and we will examine the conditions and factors that helped to form some of the largest and cleanest coal seams in the world, along with coal production and other coal bed resources. A basin, as defined by Merriam Webster 's dictionary, is "a broad area of the earth beneath which the strata dip usually from the sides toward the center" and on a simplified level, the Powder River Basin is exactly this (Merriam-Webster.com, 2014). The Powder River Basin spans from the northeast half of Wyoming into the southeast corner of Montana. A geologic map of the Powder River is shown on the following page. The basin is an assymetrical syncline with its axis lying along the western side. The coal-bearing rocks in the western part of the basin dip over 20 degrees, while the rocks at the eastern side of the basin only dip up to 5 degrees (Flores et al., 2008). As indicated by the following stratigraphic column, the coal-bearing rocks of the powder river basin were deposited from the Upper Cretaceous into the Eocene epoch. These rocks can reach a thickness of almost 8000 feet at the basin axis (Curry, 1971). Found at the
The Coteau Freedom Mine, a subsidiary of North American Cole Mine of NACO, provides coal to three main consumers: Antelope Valley Station, Leland Olds Station, and Dakota Gasification Company. All three consumers of the coal excavated at the Coteau Freedom Mine are part of the Basin Electric Company, which produces and distributes much of the power for the northern central states. The mine itself excavates about 15 million tons of coal per year, which is nearly 60,000 tons of coal per day. It is responsible for one half of the production of coal in North Dakota.
The Colorado River Basin starts in the Rocky Mountains and cuts through 1500 miles of canyon lands and deserts of seven US states and two Mexican states to supply a collection of dams and reservoirs with water to help irrigate cropland, support 40 million people, and provide hydroelectric power for the inland western United States [1,2]. From early settlement, rights over the river have been debated and reassigned to different states in the upper and lower basin; however, all the distribution patterns lead to excessive consumption of the resource. In 1922, the seven US states signed into the Colorado River Compact, which outlined the policy for the distribution rights to the water [3], however, this compact was written during an exceptionally
The basin begins near Simmesport, La., and stretches 140 miles southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Currently, the Atchafalaya Basin is bound by natural ridges formed by levee building along active and abandoned courses of the Mississippi River.
When the Ouachita Mountains were created, the sediment carried by rivers was sent downward and eroded again. Swamps overfilled with clay and plant remains ended up buried. These remains become valuable products of the valley today- coal and natural gas. This region varies between narrow ridges and flat-topped mountains with rolling or hilly plains split by the river. The Arkansas River was an important means of transportation between the mountains. Present day Batesville, Fort Smith, Clarksville, Russellville, Morrilton, and part of Conway are within this
Clean coal technology usually addresses atmospheric problems resulting from burning coal. Historically, the primary focus was on sulfur dioxide and particulates, since it is the most important gas in the causation of acid rain. More recent focus has been on carbon dioxide (due to its impact on global warming) as well as other pollutants. Concerns exist regarding the economic viability of these technologies and the timeframe of delivery, potentially high hidden economic costs in terms of social and environmental damage, and the costs and viability of disposing of removed carbon and other toxic matter. More, the byproducts of coal power production range from fly ash sludge ponds full of mercury, arsenic, and sulfur in unlined ponds that can leak into the water supply.
Coal may be overshadowed by petroleum in Texas, but it's still here. Pennsylvanian age bituminous coal was mined in North Central Texas in sizable quantities. Bituminous coal can also be found in Cretaceous age rocks in near Eagle Pass and in the Trans-Pecos region. But the major player in Texas coal is Lignite, even though it is a lower grade coal. The Texas lignite comes from vegetative material deposited around 50 million years ago in coastal lagoon type environments, near rivers and their deltas. The material was buried before it could decay, so it sat there and was buried under more and more sediments. The enormous
Burns, Shirley Stewart. Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2007. Print.
Around the time of 1874 the south began to realize that some things had to change. Some of those things being: tobacco, coal, iron, railroads, sharecropping and voting rights. The south began to agree that the cash crop and the plantation economy wouldn’t work as efficiently as having an industrial capitalist economy. This transformation was to be led by the Democratic Party, or, better known as, the Redeemers.
Multiple Japanese settlements started to increase in rustic communities of the Columbia River Basin, despite the Issei’s harsh labor in the early 20th century, the discrimination led to growing anti-Japanese arrogances on the West Coast, even the feeling had developed against the seeming Chinese competition. Nampa, and Caldwell Idaho drove out the Japanese workers this led to white mobs around Coeur d’ Alene and in Poland to threaten the Japanese railroad workers. Pressures led to the (“Gentleman’s Agreement”) between the U.S. which effectually limited the numbers of laborers that could travel from Japan in 1908.
Intrusions within the coal-beds in the northern part of the Raton Basin have been destroyed in vast amounts (Johnson and Finn, 2001). Sills and tabular igneous bodies parallel to bedding are intruded in the middle part of the Raton Formation and are exposed in the Purgatoire River Valley (Watts, 2006). Sills within the basin intrude along a coal-bed instead of through the coal-bed, influencing a larger volume of the coal (Rooper et al., 2006). The sills in the basin are fine grained and distributed across the subsurface as well as intruded into the coals (Pillmore, 2003).
Wyoming accounts for a major percentage of coal mined all over the United States. Wyoming's Powder River Basin holds the eight largest coal mines of the United States. Wyoming obtains more than 90% of the state’sdomestic coal from Wyoming. The state is also good in the production of natural gas. Due to the excess usage of fuels, the people of the state are facing issues such as watery eyes, breath shortnessand bleeding noses due to the rise in the ozone levels.The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality warned the people with respiratory symptoms to avoid extended outdoor activities (Reynolds, 2013).
Bituminous coal was first mined in Pennsylvania at "Coal Hill" (Mount Washington), just across the Monongahela River from the city of Pittsburgh. The coal was extracted from drift mines in the Pittsburgh coal seam, which outcrops along the hillside, and transported by canoe to the nearby military garrison. By 1830, the city of Pittsburgh consumed more than 400 tons per day of bituminous coal for domestic and light industrial use. Development of the anthracite coalfields in eastern Pennsylvania had progressed to the point where "hard coal" had captured the eastern markets. Consequently, bituminous coal production in western Pennsylvania grew principally with western population growth, expansion and development of rail and river transportation facilities to the west, and the emergence of the steel industry.
The Colorado River is a very important water source for the Southwest and its people. But I think the river is most important for the farmers.
Coal, a mineral I have discussed previously, is necessary to our everyday lives. Coal is an incredible source of energy; it heats our houses and buildings, and also fuels stoves. You may often wonder where this extremely useful mineral comes from. Coal does not just appear; it needs to be mined through a process which results in our being able to utilize it. Coal mining is fairly inexpensive, is carried out on a large scale and can be mined in either underground or surface mines.
Lignite is the softest coal. Further compression and aging caused the lignite coal to change into bituminous coal. Bituminous is a soft, black, brittle material that is extremely flammable and produces a lot of ash and sulfur when burned. This is the type of coal that is mined in the Appalachian Mountains, Great Plains, and the Colorado Plateau. Heat and pressure then turn bituminous into anthracite. Anthracite is the final stage of coal, and is composed almost entirely of carbon. Lignite and bituminous coal are sedimentary, while anthracite is metamorphic. Anthracite is only found where pressure and heat were very great. It doesn’t produce as much heat as bituminous coal, but it burns longer without as much residue. There are anthracite fields in Pennsylvania and Great Britain (U.S Energy Information Administration).