The complex geologic setting and historical mining of the anthracite mines creates a challenge to calculate the volume of water stored within the underground mines. EPCAMR’s recent mapping effort has reasonably found that almost 9 billion gallons of mine water resides in storage in 10 mines in the Southern Field and approximately 435 billion gallons in all the Northern Field. This associated report attempts to build on previous investigations to locate and quantify large volumes of water existing in underground mine voids, known as Mine Pools, in the Southern and Northern Anthracite Coal Fields of Eastern Pennsylvania. The goal of this project was to produce 3D Modeling of Eastern Pennsylvania Anthracite Mine Pools in Earthvision to Improve Water Quality Restoration and AMD Treatment via Consumptive Use Mitigation Projects in the Susquehanna River Basin. When pairing treatment with the ability to control the amount of water coming out of the mines, large flushes of stormwater that would normally escape untreated could be retained, later treated and released in times of low water or drought conditions.

1. 17th Annual PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Conference, State College, PA
Robert E. Hughes Michael A. Hewitt
Executive Director Program Manager
rhughes@epcamr.org hardcoal@epcamr.org
Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR)
www.epcamr.org ; @EPCAMR on Twitter ; /EPCAMR on FaceBook
PA AMR Conference Website - www.treatminewater.com
3D Mine Pool Mapping in NE PA’s
Anthracite Coal Region:
Reclaiming Past Mining Practices &
Restoring Polluted Mine Waters

2. 1762 - Connecticut settlers discover anthracite coal seams in the Wyoming Valley and estimate 16 billion tons of coal lie
within the anthracite seams in Northern Coal Field. The recoverable amount is classified at around 7 to 8 billion tons.
1790’s – Anthracite discovered in the Schuylkill (Southern) and Lehigh (Eastern Middle) Regions.
1917 - Anthracite coal production peaks at over 100 million tons per year.
1930s to 1960’s - Anthracite coal mine production steadily declines due to many factors, mostly economic. Peaks briefly
due to World Wars.
A Quick History on Anthracite Coal
Extraction In Pennsylvania…
That’s a lot of empty space under the ground…
Due to over 2 centuries of mining, billions and billions of
gallons of water collects in or passes through the abandoned
underground mines and surface mines producing AMD pollution
…which is not always acidic…
1995 - USGS estimated that the cumulative extraction of
anthracite coal was ~ 5.5 billion tons (all fields).

3. 18
9
2438
Also, 4
distinct
alkalinity
generating
zones in
Northern
Field
A “Few” Layers
of Complexity…

4. a) Availability of Accurate Underground Mine Maps
b) Mine Pool Water Quality & Stratification
i. New Focus on Monitoring Needed (boreholes, shafts)
c) Overburden Geology & Existing Infrastructure in the Coalfields
d) Surface & Mineral Ownership including Solution Mining within the Mine Pools
e) Conditions of the Underground Mine Workings
i. Flooded Workings
ii. Weak Roofs
iii. Flushing Projects
iv. Adjacent Mine Fires
v. Subsidence Areas
Challenges EPCAMR faces when tackling
AMD Issues

5. Challenges EPCAMR faces when tackling AMD Issues
f) Management & Control of Underground Mine Pools Across PA
i. Determining linkages to the majority of the large mine discharges in
the Bituminous & Anthracite Region
ii. Present substantial challenges
• mitigation of environmental damage
• alleviating health & safety impacts to residents
• mine subsidence
• watershed restoration
• public infrastructure
• mine water storage
iii. Vertical and Horizontal (Directional) drilling techniques should be
further evaluated across the Commonwealth for controlling mine
pool hydraulic head and/or relocating discharges, conveyance
structures to combine and/or redirect discharges

6. iv. Need to conduct comprehensive hydrogeologic
investigations to evaluate mine pool responses to:
• rainfall events for future potential storage
• in situ treatment, low flow augmentation
• controlled releases for consumptive use
mitigation
Ex. Case study at Old Forge Borehole (OFBH)
showed ~8 hour lag in mine pool levels vs river
levels…
iv. Increasing the number of public/private
partnerships for treatment and reuse of mine
pools that not only benefit the private sector, but
will improve the land & waters impacted in the
affected AMD impacted communities & watersheds
OFBH
Pressure
Transducer
Vs.
River
Gauge

7. g) Hydrologic Conditions of the Mine Workings
h) Land Availability for future AMD Treatment Systems Construction
i. Over 300 systems constructed to date across PA (datashed.org)
i) Establishment of Conservation Easements along Right-of-Ways on
private property to access AMD discharges for monitoring, conveyance,
and or treatment
j) Creation of economic redevelopment potential opportunities and
incentives for incubator “green” industries and start-ups
i. developing ways to recover and sell metal oxides
ii. reuse the mine water for electricity
iii. low-flow augmentation
iv. consumptive use mitigation
v. fishery improvements
Challenges EPCAMR faces when tackling
AMD Issues

8. Opportunities to Reclaim Our Communities
1. Innovative technologies being pursued
a. Rediscovering historic mine maps & reports by State Geologists & others on AMD resources
b. Converting barrier pillar studies & mine pool studies into GIS & 3D Models
c. Backtracking from AMD discharges to mine pool boundary limits
d. Monitoring dozens of boreholes regionally to provide current elevations & fluctuations in
the mine pools since the cessation of pumping as coal companies went out of business.
2. Updating the region's understanding of our vast hydrogeologically complex mine pools (aka.
multi-colliery hydrologic units).
3. EPCAMR has been estimating conservative mine pool water volumes in these
underground reservoirs & have been interpreting their hydrogeological connections or
isolation from one another.
4. Recent efforts to scan, catalogue, geo-reference, & digitize the historic mine maps for PA’ s
MSI Program will produce better raw data for EPCAMR’s 3D Mine Pool Modeling of specific
areas throughout the NC & NC PA Coalfields using EarthVision, ArcGIS & Global Mapper
software.
a. PA DEP Mine Subsidence Insurance Program - http://www.pamsi.org/
b. Pennsylvania Mine Map Atlas - http://www.minemaps.psu.edu/

9. AMD as a Resource…
NOT a Pollutant
a) Mine Water Resource Potential in the Anthracite Region (Report)
http://www.epcamr.org/storage/projects/MinePoolMapping/Mine_Water_Resources_of_the_Anthracite_Coal_Fields_-_Report.pdf
b) AMD as a potential recoverable resource via solution mining as a commodity for
various industries that can spur & encourage economic redevelopment,
watershed restoration, & land reclamation
c) Mine Pool Reuse by various industries
I. Geothermal Use of Mine Pools for Open and Closed Loop Systems
II. Consumptive Use Mitigation
III. Low flow Augmentation
IV. Industrial Uses
V. Power Plant Water Usage for heating and cooling and generation of electricity and the Co-Generation Industry Plants (ARIPPA)
VI. MicroHydro Turbine Electrical Generation (Antrim Treatment System in Tioga County)-FERC License Approved

10. Northern Anthracite Field Area
of Concern modeled in the:
ANTHRACITE MINE POOL
MAPPING FOR THE
SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN
COAL FIELDS
A report recently completed by
EPCAMR with funding from SRBC

11. ArcGIS 2D representation of mine pools in the Scranton
Metropolitan area (orange area are original Ash Report
boundaries during mining, brown areas are Hollowell
extents after cessation of mining, barrier pillars are gray
where breached and black where solid, bright red lines
are available cross section data, blue arrows are
surface water infiltration points, boreholes are
red=inaccessible, green=accessible, and
orange=discharging). Notice average borehole water
level in the northern section (Olyphant) are ~100' higher
than those in the southern section (Taylor). WHY?

12. This image file shows the 4DVX cross section
files in line ready for heads up digitizing.

13. This image shows those
same 4DVX cross section
files and already digitized
(traced) to produce
scattered raw data to feed
into modeler.

14. Southern Anthracite Field Area
of Concern modeled in the:
ANTHRACITE MINE POOL
MAPPING FOR THE
SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN
COAL FIELDS
A report recently completed by
EPCAMR with funding from SRBC

15. EarthVision Model of virgin coal volumes of the Lykens Valley Veins
in the Brookside (left), Valley View (middle) and Markson (right)
Mines cross section looking west in the Southern Coal Fields
Red lines indicate
colliery boundaries
White lines indicate
barrier pillars

16. Brookside Video

17. Southern Anthracite Field Mine Pool Map from
U.S. Bureau of Mines Technical Paper 727 in 1949
^Susquehanna River Basin, Schuylkill River Headwaters^, Upper Lehigh River Basin^
(Spans 3 sub-watershed basins)

18. Mine pool extents, pool flow
direction, barrier pillars and AMD in
the northern portion of the Southern
Coal Field
1970’s PA Bureau of Forests and Waters Report (Beisecker)

19. • EPCAMR calculations from EarthVision true 3D Grids:
Total for the Northern Anthracite Coal Field is ~434 billion gal. (regional models complete)
i. Total for Lackawanna Valley is ~160 billion gal.
a. Scranton Metro Mine Pool is ~130 billion gal.; ~2-3x volume stored in Lake Wallenpaupack
OFBH Case study -> http://www.lrca.org/LRCA/pdf/LLWRAP_Exec_Summary1.pdf
ii. Total for Wyoming Valley is ~274 billion gal.
Total for the Southern Anthracite Coal Field in 10 pools is ~ 8.8 billion gal. (more work needed)
a) Heckscherville Valley Mine Pools Estimate: Total ~6.2 billion gal.
b) Rausch Creek Valley Mine Pools Estimate: Total ~2.6 billion gal.
• USGS estimate from ModFlow:
Total for Western Middle Anthracite Coal field is 60-220 billion gal.
http://pa.water.usgs.gov/projects/groundwater/westernmiddle/
Mine Pool Modeling in EarthVision is needed to tighten up range…
EPCAMR Mine Pool
Volume Calculations

20. Western
Middle
(Mount
Carmel)
Model
Northern
(Wyoming
Valley)
Middle
Model