Hydrology of the Abandoned Underground Corning Coal Mine, Perry County, Ohio

Abstract

Abstract. The Corning mine complex, a suite of abandoned partially flooded room-and-pillar mines in Perry County, Ohio, contributes nearly 100% of the annual acidity load to upper Sunday Creek. Discharge, which issues from a single hole, averages 73 liters/s (2.6 cfs); acidity load averages 590 kg/day; and metal (Fe, Al and Mn) loads average 260, 2 and 13 kg/day respectively. The discharge is a high priority for remediation, but is not well suited for treatment by passive systems. Source-control strategies require knowing recharge sources, flow paths, underground pool interconnections, and mine residence times. This paper describes the development of both conceptual and quantitative models of the mine system, based on mine and soil water budgets, an equivalent-porous-medium numerical model, a barometric efficiency model, and a chemical mixing model. The models were based on monthly water sampling, continuous mine-pool and discharge hydrographs, borehole logs, meteorological data and mine maps.The recharge rate is 20 cm/yr (13% of precipitation). Stream capture contributes 13% of the mine's annual recharge, with diffuse recharge accounting for 87%. During intense rainfall events, however, 50% of recharge can occur by stream capture. Mine storage varies seasonally, depending on recharge, which in turn depends on not just precipitation but also evapotranspirative demand and soilmoisture storage. Consequently, mine storage and discharge are highest in the late spring and lowest in the late summer and early fall. The mine aquifer is a gently dipping grid of rooms and tunnels that collectively provide hydraulic resistance to flow, and it does not form a single hydrostatic pool. Assuming that mines are fully interconnected and that water is well mixed yields a residence time of 5.1 years. However, barometric pressure response shows that the eastern 40% of the mine is separate and partially confined, with exceptionally poor water quality. The eastern portion accounts for only 10% of the flow, but contributes 50% of the chemical load. Excluding the weakly-connected eastern 40%, residence time is 3.9 years. Barometric responses of heads in various parts of the mine show unconfined behavior, confined behavior, or "displacement" behavior, in which heads increase with barometric pressure.

Modelling potential hydrological impact of abandoned underground mines in the Monday Creek Watershed, Ohio

“…The above‐drainage mines tend to be recharged rapidly by infiltrating rain and snowmelt, and water continually flows out without fully flooding the mine (Demchak et al ., ). The hydrograph for the selected period shown in Figure indicates the ‘rapid recharge’ through sinkholes and fractures generated from the AUM, which is consistent with the results obtained in previous studies (López and Stoertz, ; Stoertz et al ., ).…”

“…freshwater availability, flood and drought risk (Dvoracek et al ., ). Another serious problem associated with AUM is acid mine drainage (AMD) (Boyer and Gleason, ; Choubey and Rawat, ; Stoertz et al ., ), leading to water contamination, which has impacted many different regions over long periods of time (US Army Corps of Engineers, ). The behaviours of AMD are inextricably linked with hydrological processes (Choubey, ; Herr et al ., ).…”

Geochemistry of mine pool discharges in the Pittsburgh coal basin

“…Heterogeneity of recharge may influence chemistry of isolated pools throughout a mining complex (Stoertz et al, 2004).…”