ROADCUT DATABASE FOR EASTERN KENTUCKY COAL-BEARING ROCKS

Beginning in the 1960's, an ambitious road-building program was initiated in eastern Kentucky. Initial funds provided by the Appalachian Regional Commission were used for this purpose in order to facilitate and encourage economic development in the region. Eastern Kentucky is a major coal-producing area, and consequently, specifications for major haulage roads required maintaining minimal grades. Building low-grade roads in the high-slope terrain of the region resulted in many extremely large roadcut exposures. Moreover, safety requirements for the roads required construction of pre-split safety benches that are spaced vertically about 20 to 40 feet apart. This construction design provides ideal access for observing the coal-bearing strata.

The challenge of preserving this geoscience information stemmed from the enormous quantity of information that the large exposures provided, as well as the large number of cuts available to observe. Photographic methods were initially used, but were ultimately deemed inadequate because of scale distortion arising from varying view angles, and inability to capture details about certain lithologic characteristics. The desire to accurately document the vertical and lateral variation in rock types led to a method of preparing scaled diagrams by measuring sections and leveling elevations. Individual outcrop diagrams were correlated in the field, and cross sections were prepared to illustrate correlation and lateral variation. These methods were developed by John Horne and his colleagues at the University of South Carolina.

More recently, the Kentucky Geological Survey has undertaken the task of preserving these data for easier access. Documents are being scanned to digital image format for archival purposes. A database of the outcrop diagrams has been constructed to document information about the outcrop descriptions. A digital map of outcrop locations has been made to facilitate linking the database and scanned documents in a Web environment.