Hydrology of area 49, northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain coal provinces, Montana and Wyoming

Abstract

The nationwide need for hydrologic information characterizing conditions in mined and potential mined areas has become critical with the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. This report is designed to be useful to surface mine owners, operators, and others by presenting existing hydrologic information and by identifying sources of hydrologic information. A brief text with an accompanying map, chart, graph, or other illustration presents general hydrologic information for each of a series of water-resources-related topics. Summation of the topical discussions provides a description of the hydrology of the area. Area 49 encompasses about 10,700 square miles in southeastern Montana and north-central Wyoming, near the center of the Northern Great Plains Coal Province. The land surface typically is characterized by rolling uplands dissected by steep-walled valleys and primarily is drained by the Yellowstone River, the Tongue River, and Rosebud Creek and their tributaries.

A Test of Factors Hypothesized to Influence Biomass of Salmonids in Rocky Mountain Streams

“…The positive relationships between biomass and stream width in other studies Eiseman 1979, Hubert et al 1996) are probably reflecting contemporary theory that biological productivity increases with downstream progression in forested stream systems (Vannote et al 1980). We suggest that streams in the Upper Little Bighorn River and Dry Fork Little Bighorn River watersheds originate largely from groundwater sources associated with limestone formations (Slagle et al 1983) and often flow through mountain meadows near their source, so they have high levels of biological productivity near their headwaters. Consequently, trout biomass does not increase with downstream progression.…”

Water-Quality Characteristics for Sites in the Tongue, Powder, Cheyenne, and Belle Fourche River Drainage Basins, Wyoming and Montana, Water Years 2001-05, with Temporal Patterns of Selected Long-Term Water-Quality Data

“…In a report by Druse and others (1981), results are presented for base-flow streamflow measurements and water-quality measurements made in the fall of 1977 and 1978 at sites in the northern Great Plains of Montana and Wyoming. Water resources and coal-mining issues in several drainages, including the Tongue River and Goose Creek drainages, are described in a report by Slagle and others (1983). In the same report series, Lowry and others (1986) described the effects of coal mining on water resources in parts of the Powder River structural basin, including the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche River drainage basins.…”

Summary of the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Land Management national coal-hydrology program, 1974-84

“…Some western regions are grouped together and some regions often include areas beyond the boundaries of any defined coal area. Ehlke and others (1982b) 81-803 10 Ehlke and others (1983) 82-864 11 Roth and Cooper (1985) 84-233 12 Ehlke and others (1982a) 81-902 13 Kiesler and others (1983) 82-505 14 Quinones and others (1981) 81-137 15 Leist and others (1982) 81-809 16 Hufschmidt and others (1981) 81-204 17 Gaydos and others (1982a) 81-1118 18 May and others (1981) 81-492 19 Gaydos and others (1982b) 81-901 20 Hollyday and others (1983) 82-440 21 May and others (1983) 82-679 22 Harkins and others (1981) 81-135 23 Harkins and others (1980) 80-683 24 Harkins and others (1982) 81-1113 25 Zuehls and others (1981a) 81-636 26 No report planned 27 Zuehls (1987a) 84-707 28 Zuehls and others (1984) 83-544 29 Fitzgerald and others (1984) 82-858 30 Wangsness and others (1983) 82-1005 31 Zuehls (1987b) 85-342 32 Wangsness and others (1981b) 81-498 33 Wangsness and others (1981a) 81-423 34 Quinones and others (1983) 82-638 35 Zuehls and others (1981b) 81-403 36 No report planned 37 No report planned 38 Detroy, Skelton, and others (1983) 82-1014 39 Bevans and others (1984) 83-851 40 Marcher, Kenny, and others (1984) 83-266 41 Marcher and others (1987) 84-129 42 Bryant and others (1983) 82-636 43 Lambing and others (1987) 85-88 44 No report planned 45 Slagle and others (1984) 83-527 46 Croft and Crosby (1987) 84-467 47 Crosby and Klausing (1984) 83-221 48 Slagle and others (1986) 84-141 49 Slagle and others (1983) 82-682 50 Lowr...…”

“…Most of the foregoing information about coal resources, unless otherwise noted, was obtained from the coal-area hydrology reports by Slagle andothers (1983, 1986), Lowry, Wilson, and others (1986), and Peterson and others (1987). The original sources of the information are cited in those reports.…”