Pike Run Coal Mining

The coal that was mined at West Pike Run comes from the Waynesburg Coal Seam. This type of coal is considered to have a lot of acid forming materials within it. Coal is classified according to rank and sulfur content. "It is the sulfur content that, when mixed with the ground water from rain, causes acid mine drainage. The sulfur associated with acid mine drainage comes from the mineral pyrite (fools gold) FeS2. During mining, pyrite is disturbed and begins to weather away."(Smith, 1999). When the exposed mineral comes from in contact with oxygen and water it may form sulfuric acid and or ferrous iron. This is detected by an orange ferric hydroxide that covers the streambeds on the ground where the discharge is located. As the pH level drops, an iron bacterium becomes increasingly active, and accelerates the rate of pyrite oxidation. "Often other metals escape, for example aluminum (that can be detected in water as a cloudy, milky, gray mixture) and when mixed with water are often toxic to aquatic life; thus the streams begin to degrade."(Smith 1999). From the mine location, the area is about twenty-seven square miles, and the stream, which starts near Van Voorhis Hills, flows to California finally into the Monogahela River. According to Smith, this distance covers over 52 miles. The mines at Pike Run vary in depths of 50 feet to over 350 feet, with the average depth extending to over 100 feet,(Smith 1999).
The following excerpt, about the Pennsylvania CoalFields is from the Pennsylvania Coal Data 1997 Report, provided by the Pennsylvania Coal Association:
" Pennsylvania lies at the northeastern end of the Appalachian Coal Basin. Bituminous coal underlies more than 13,000 square miles in coal fields reaching across western and central parts of the state. Pennsylvania's coal beds are interlaid with layers of sandstone, shale and limestone. About 40 beds are mined in the state. Major suppliers of coal include the Pittsburgh, the Upper and Lower Freeport, and the Upper and Lower Kittanning. These five beds, ranging from three to six feet thick, account for about 75 5 of the state's coal output. Historically, the most important coal bed in the United States is the Pittsburgh, a seam of bituminous coal averaging more than five feet thick and mined in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland. In 1996, Pennsylvania ranked 4^th in coal production in the United States, while West Virginia ranked 2^nd, Ohio ranked 11^th, and Maryland ranked 18^th." (R. Vargo)