Showing papers by "Carl E. Zipper published in 2014"

Passive Treatment of Acid-Mine Drainage

Abstract: Acidic mine drainage (AMD; also called “acid rock drainage” or “acid drainage”) is an environmental pol-lutant that impairs water resources in mining regions throughout the world. Where such treatment is required legally, treatment must be efficient and continual. Treatment methods are commonly divided into either “active,” meaning reliance on the addition of alkaline chemicals to neutralize the acidity, or “passive.” The term “passive treatment” means reliance on biologi-cal, geochemical, and gravitational processes. Passive treatment does not require constant care or the chemi-cal reagents that characterize “active” AMD treatment. This publication presents guidance for design of pas-sive treatment systems for AMD. Our emphasis is to describe clearly the mechanisms governing these sys-tems’ treatment effectiveness and performance. Parties intending to construct passive treatment systems may refer to other sources that include more detailed design and construction guidance, including those listed as “Design Guidelines” in the references below. Articles by Skousen and Ziemkiewicz (2005), and Skousen (1996), contain photographs that illustrate many of these concepts.

Post-mining policies and practices in the Eastern USA coal region

Abstract: Surface coal mines prior to 1950 in the USA were generally left without any reclamation. As government regulations advanced since then, mine operators were required to backfill the area and plant grasses or trees. After the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) was passed in 1977 in the USA, mine operators were required to conduct pre-mining analyses of the site and to designate a land use that could be achieved after mining. Successful reclamation, as needed to satisfy today’s societal demands, requires engineering, design, and purposeful reconstruction of the full mining disturbance, not just its surface, and control of waters leaving the mine site. Effective reclamation on modern American coal mines is fully integrated with the mining operation. A suitable and effective post-mining land use that is sustainable for future generations is crucial to the long-term success and profitability of the mining business and to the future economic benefits of the landowner. Accepted post-mining land uses in the USA are: (1) prime farmland, (2) hay land and pasture, (3) biofuel crops, (4) forestry, (5) wildlife habitat, and (6) building site development. Policies and regulations for each post-mining land use were developed and practices to achieve successful and sustainable land uses were established. Post-mining conditions should provide ecosystem services and produce lands capable of supporting societal needs in the future.

Long‐Term Trends of Specific Conductance in Waters Discharged by Coal‐Mine Valley Fills in Central Appalachia, USA

Abstract: Anthropogenic salinization of freshwaters is a global concern. Coal surface mining causes release of dissolved sulfate, bicarbonate, calcium, magnesium, and other ions to surface waters in central Appalachia, USA, through practices that include mine rock disposal in valley fills (VFs). This region's surface waters naturally have low salinity, with specific conductance (SC, a salinity indicator) generally 500 μS/cm) SC.

Ripping Improves Tree Survival and Growth on Unused Reclaimed Mined Lands

Abstract: There is renewed interest in re-establishing trees on 0.6 million ha of mining-disturbed lands in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern United States. Many coal-mined lands reclaimed to meet requirements of US federal law have thick herbaceous vegetation and compacted soils which impede tree establishment. Mitigation practices were applied on three mine sites and evaluated for success in enabling planted trees to become established. Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), hybrid poplar (Populus deltoids × Populus trichocarpa), and mixed Appalachian hardwoods were established using weed control only and weed control with subsoil ripping. Trees were measured in October of 2008 after 5 years of growth. Subsoil ripping increased mixed hardwood survival from 43 to 71 %, hybrid poplar biomass index from 1.51 to 8.97 Mg ha−1, and Eastern white pine biomass index from 0.10 to 0.32 Mg ha−1. When restoring trees to unused mined sites, subsoil ripping can aid survival and growth to an extent that will result in a valuable forest.

Water and Sediment Quality in the Clinch River, Virginia and Tennessee, USA, over Nearly Five Decades

Abstract: The Clinch River, in eastern United States, supports a diverse freshwater fauna including endangered mussels. Although mussel populations are stable in the Clinch's northeastern Tennessee segment, long-term declines have been documented upstream in Virginia. We analyzed water and sediment quality data collected by government agencies from the 1960s through 2013 in an effort to inform current management. The river was divided into sections considering data availability and major tributaries. We tested for spatial differences among river sections and for temporal trends, and compared measured values to potentially protective levels if available. Ammonia concentrations approaching and exceeding protective levels were recorded, most often during the 1970s and 1980s in upstream sections. Sediment metals occurred at levels potentially causing biological effects, mainly during the 1980s and 1990s. In the 2000s, water-column metals have been well below protective levels for general aquatic life. Dissolved solids (DS) increased in most river sections over the study period but mussel-specific protective levels are not known. Analysis of water pH, total N, and total P did not generate conservation concern. Enhanced monitoring for sediment metals, water-column metals, and ionic composition of DS; closer alignment of agency water monitoring practices in the two states; and research to determine biological effects of DS at current and anticipated levels can aid future conservation management.

Freshwater Mussel Population Status and Habitat Quality in the Clinch River, Virginia and Tennessee, USA: A Featured Collection

Abstract: The Clinch River of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee is arguably the most important river for freshwater mussel conservation in the United States. This featured collection presents investigations of mussel population status and habitat quality in the Clinch River. Analyses of historic water- and sediment-quality data suggest that water column ammonia and water column and sediment metals, including Cu and Zn, may have contributed historically to declining densities and extirpations of mussels in the river's Virginia sections. These studies also reveal increasing temporal trends for dissolved solids concentrations throughout much of the river's extent. Current mussel abundance patterns do not correspond spatially with physical habitat quality, but they do correspond with specific conductance, dissolved major ions, and water column metals, suggesting these and/or associated constituents as factors contributing to mussel declines. Mussels are sensitive to metals. Native mussels and hatchery-raised mussels held in cages in situ accumulated metals in their body tissues in river sections where mussels are declining. Organic compound and bed-sediment contaminant analyses did not reveal spatial correspondences with mussel status metrics, although potentially toxic levels were found. Collectively, these studies identify major ions and metals as water- and sediment-quality concerns for mussel conservation in the Clinch River.

Predicting release and aquatic effects of total dissolved solids from Appalachian USA coal mines

Abstract: Appalachian USA coal mines have been implicated as major stressors to aquatic life in headwater streams via discharge of total dissolved solids (TDS). This paper summarizes column leaching studies of spoils (n > 50) and refuse and TDS effects on local water quality and biotic response. The initial pH of most materials is near-neutral. Initial specific conductance (SC) values range from 500–1,000 to >3,000 µs/cm, but 2/3 of materials drop below 500 µs/cm after several pore volumes of leaching. Studies of mining-influenced streams have found altered aquatic life, relative to natural conditions with no mining influence, at SC ranging from ~200 to ~700 µs/cm with depressed aquatic life consistently associated with elevated TDS; mechanisms causing such effects are under investigation. We suggest that active mine operations should be modified to place high TDS producing materials in ways that reduce contact with percolating drainage waters.

Identifying woody vegetation on coal surface mines using phenological indicators with multitemporal Landsat imagery

Abstract: . Surface mining for coal has disturbed large land areas in the Appalachian Mountains. Better information on mined lands' ecosystem recovery status is necessary for effective environmental management in mining-impacted regions. Because record quality varies between state mining agencies and much mining occurred prior to widespread use of geospatial technologies, accurate maps of mining extents, durations, and land cover effects are often not available. Landsat data are well suited to mapping and characterizing land cover and forest recovery on former coal surface mines. Past mine reclamation techniques have often failed to restore premining forest vegetation but natural processes may enable native forests to re-establish on mined areas with time. However, the invasive species autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellate) is proliferating widely on former coal surface mines, often inhibiting reestablishment of native forests. Autumn olive outcompetes native vegetation because it fixes atmospheric nitrogen and benefits from a longer growing season than native deciduous trees. This longer growing season, along with Landsat 8's high signal to noise ratio, has enabled species-level classification of autumn olive using multitemporal Landsat 8 data at accuracy levels usually only obtainable using higher spatial or spectral resolution sensors. We have used classification and regression tree (CART®) and support vector machine (SVM) to classify five counties in the coal mining region of Virginia for presence and absence of autumn olive. The best model found was a CART® model with 36 nodes which had an overall accuracy of 84% and kappa of 0.68. Autumn olive had conditional kappa of 0.65 and a producers and users accuracy of 86% and 83% respectively. The best SVM model used a second order polynomial kernel and had an overall accuracy of 77%, an overall kappa of 0.54 and a producers and users accuracy of 60% and 90% respectively.