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Coal Mines (coal + mine)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	36%
Life Sciences	27%
Engineering	18%

Selected Abstracts

Wyoming Big Sagebrush Density: Effects of Seeding Rates and Grass Competition

RESTORATION ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
Mary I. Williams
Abstract The mining industry commonly seeds shrubs and grasses concurrently on coal-mined lands of northeastern Wyoming, but ecological interactions between seeded shrubs and grasses are not well documented. Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis (Beetle and Young) (Wyoming big sagebrush) is the dominant pre-mining shrub on many Wyoming mine sites. Despite past failures to establish Wyoming big sagebrush, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division's rules and regulations require establishment of 1 shrub per m2 on 20% of post-mined land in Wyoming. A study was established at the Belle Ayr Coal Mine south of Gillette, Wyoming to evaluate the effects of sagebrush seeding rates and grass competition on Wyoming big sagebrush seedling density. Three sagebrush seeding rates (1, 2, and 4 kg pure live seed [pls]/ha; 350, 700, and 1,400 pls/m2, respectively) and seven cool-season perennial grass mixture seeding rates (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 14 kg pls/ha; 0, 187, 374, 561, 750, 935, and 1,309 pls/m2, respectively) were applied during winter 1998,1999. Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) A. Love (western wheatgrass), Elymus lanceolatus (Scribner & J.G. Smith) Gould (thickspike wheatgrass), and Elymus trachycaulus (Link) Gould ex Shinners (slender wheatgrass) comprised the grass seed mix (equal seed numbers of each species). Sagebrush seedling density differed among sagebrush seeding rates but not among grass seeding rates. On all sampling dates in 1999 and 2000, sagebrush seedling density differed among sagebrush rates and was greatest at the 4 kg pls/ha sagebrush seeding rate. All sagebrush seeding rates provided densities of at least 1 shrub per m2 after two growing seasons. Grass density and production in 2000 suggest that adequate grass production (75 g/m2) was achieved by seeding at 6 to 8 kg pls/ha. Within these grass seeding rates, four or more sagebrush seedlings per m2 were attained when sagebrush was seeded at 2 to 4 kg pls/ha. Use of these seeding rate combinations in mine reclamation can achieve Wyoming big sagebrush standards and reduce reseeding costs. [source]

Application Results of 3-D Seismic Exploration Technology in Coal Mines

ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 3 2004
SUN Shenglin
Abstract, This paper briefly introduces the development and present situation of China's coal seismic exploration. It focuses on analyzing the important functions of 3-D seismic exploration technology in the designing and production of coal mines, and also the results of its application. [source]

New strepsirrhine primate from the late Eocene of Peninsular Thailand (Krabi Basin)

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2006
Laurent Marivaux
Abstract In this paper, we describe the newly discovered lower jaw of a primate from the late Eocene Krabi coal mine (Bang Mark pit) of Peninsular Thailand. We performed microtomographic examinations at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, Grenoble, France) to analyze different morphological aspects of the jaw and teeth. Although partially preserved, this fossil mandible reveals a set of distinctive dental traits (e.g., double-rooted P2 and molarized P4) that allow us to describe a new stepsirrhine adapiform: Muangthanhinius siami, new genus and species. This taxon is somewhat atypical among Paleogene adapiforms, and more specialized than the sivaladapid adapiforms (hoanghoniines) that existed in Asia in the same epoch. In fact, Muangthanhinius shows a degree of dental specialization approximating that of some modern strepsirrhine lemuriforms, although it lacks the highly specialized anterior dentition characterizing this living primate group (canine + incisors forming a very procumbent toothcomb). In contrast, Muangthanhinius exhibits a large canine deeply anchored within the dentary that probably protruded high above the toothrow. Finally, despite the development of a molarized P4 as in Miocene sivaladapid sivaladapines, Muangthanhinius differs in molar morphology from this group, and the position of this new taxon within the Adapiformes remains indeterminate. Clarification of its phylogenetic position will require more morphological evidence than is currently available. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Semi-industrial tests on enhanced underground coal gasification at Zhong-Liang-Shan coal mine

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 5 2009
G. X. Wang
Abstract A new process of enhanced underground coal gasification (EUCG) has been demonstrated recently in successful semi-industrial tests at Zhong-Liang-Shan (ZLS) coal mine in China. The EUCG is featured using man-built pinnate channels and controlled moving injection points along coal-bed channel to produce syngas through underground coal gasification (UCG). To optimize the EUCG process, this field trial was performed with various operational manoeuvres, such as implementing controlled moving injection points, O2 -enriched operation and variation of operational pressure. The results showed that these operational techniques of the EUCG can ensure the gas flow comparatively controllable and hence improve UCG performance significantly, providing both a higher efficiency of heat and a higher quality of the production syngas. Copyright © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Protophyllocladoxylon jingyuanense sp. nov., a Gymnospermous Wood of the Serpukhovian (Late Mississippian) from Gansu, Northwest China

ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 2 2010
Yi ZHANG
Abstract: A new species of gymnospermous fossil wood, Protophyllocladoxylon jingyuanense sp. nov., is described from the lower part of the Tsingyuan Formation (Serpukhovian/Late Mississippian), near the coal mine of Ciyao, Gansu, northwestern China. The specimen is preserved only in silicified secondary xylem, while growth rings are absent Pits in radial tracheidal walls are araucaroid in type, uniseriate, occasionally biseriate. Xylem rays are homogeneous, uniseriate, occasionally biseriate. Cross-field pits are simple, large, one to two in number. Axial parenchyma is absent. The anatomical characters and geographic distribution of Protophyllocladoxylon woods through geological ages are documented. Those species with axial parenchyma and without growth rings live in warm climate, whereas the species without axial parenchyma and with growth rings are present either in warm or cool climate. The ideal living climate for Protophyllocladoxylon woods is warm and wet. Our new species, as a fossil wood of Early Carboniferous, is likely the earliest known species of Protophyllocladoxylon. [source]

Developmental effects of bioaccumulated selenium in eggs and larvae of two salmonid species

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 9 2005
Jodi Holm
Abstract Elevated concentrations of Se have been detected in cold, flowing water habitats near uranium and coal mines in Canada. Fish from these systems have concentrations of Se in their tissues that exceed toxic effect thresholds that have been established for warm-water fishes. However, the applicability of toxic effect thresholds and guidelines to cold water, lotic habitats is a matter of contention in the literature since most cases of Se toxicosis have been documented in standing, warm-water systems. To examine the possibility of impaired reproduction in wild rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) near coal mining activity in the northeastern slopes region of Alberta, Canada, spawn from both species were collected from exposure and reference sites. Gametes were fertilized in the laboratory, reared to the swim-up stage, and examined for deformities. A significant relationship was observed for rainbow trout between the amount of Se in eggs and the incidence of developmental abnormalities, specifically craniofacial defects, skeletal deformities, and edema. These associations approximate exponential functions with probabilities that 15% of the population would be affected occurring between 8.8 and 10.5 ,g Se per gram of wet egg weight, based on probit analysis. These relationships are similar to those described for centrarchids inhabiting a seleniferous warm-water lake. No such relationships were established for brook trout. [source]

Going underground: in search of Carboniferous coal forests

GEOLOGY TODAY, Issue 5 2009
Howard J. Falcon-Lang
The development of coal forests during the Carboniferous is one of the best-known episodes in the history of life. Although often reconstructed as steamy tropical rainforests, these ancient ecosystems were a far cry from anything we might encounter in the Amazon today. Bizarre giant club-mosses, horsetails and tree ferns were the dominant plants, not flowering trees as in modern rainforests. At their height, coal forests stretched all the way from Kansas to Kazakhstan, spanning the entire breadth of tropical Pangaea. Most of what we know of their biodiversity and ecology has been quite literally mined out of the ground through two centuries of hard labour. Without coal mining, our knowledge would be greatly impoverished. Over the past few years, we've been exploring underground coal mines in the United States, where entire forested landscapes have been preserved intact over huge areas. Never before have geologists had the opportunity to walk out through mile upon mile of fossilized forest. In this feature article, we describe some of our recent explorations and attempt to shed new light on these old fossils. [source]

Sources of stream sulphate in headwater catchments in Otter Creek Wilderness, West Virginia, USA

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 4 2001
Ross D. Fitzhugh
Abstract Upland forested catchments in the Appalachian Plateau region receive among the greatest rates of atmospheric sulphur (S) deposition in the eastern USA, although coal mines and S-bearing minerals in bedrock may also contribute to stream acidity in this region. Watershed mass balance and stable S isotopic values (,34S) of sulphate (SO42,) were used to assess the contributions to stream SO42, from atmospheric and lithogenic sources at Yellow Creek (YC), a headwater catchment on the Appalachian Plateau in West Virginia. Oxygen isotopic values (,18O) of water were used to study catchment hydrology. Stream output of SO42, was c. 60% of atmospheric S deposition during a relatively dry year, whereas atmospheric S input was nearly balanced by stream output during a year with above normal amounts of precipitation. The temporal patterns and values of ,34S were similar between bulk precipitation and stream water at two upper elevation sites. At the lowest elevation site, stream ,34S values were similar to bulk precipitation values during the dormant season but were slightly lower than precipitation during the low-flow summer, probably as the result of a greater proportion of stream water being derived from deep hydrological flowpaths that have contacted S-bearing minerals with low ,34S values in coal seams. Stream ,34S values at YC were significantly higher than at Coal Run, a catchment containing abandoned coal prospects and having a greater amount of S-bearing minerals than YC. Results suggested that lithogenic S is a relatively minor source and that atmospheric deposition is the principal source of stream SO42,, and thus stream acidity, at YC. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

A conceptual selenium management model

INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2009
Peter M Chapman
Abstract We describe herein a conceptual selenium (Se) management model, directed toward coal mining in western Canada, but which can be applied to other coal mines and, with appropriate modification, to other industrial sources of Se to aquatic and terrestrial environments. This conceptual model provides a transparent means to integrate and synthesize existing information that can be used to provide an adaptive approach for managing ecological exposures and associated risk. It is particularly useful for visualizing and subsequently developing management interventions for Se control and risk reduction. The model provides a structured process by which critical information needs can be identified and addressed. It effectively provides the foundation for making management decisions related to Se discharges to aquatic and terrestrial environments by showing interrelationships of the various media and receptors as well as primary sources, release mechanisms, secondary sources, and exposure pathways. [source]