THICKNESSES OF PRINCIPAL COAL BEDS IN THE MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIAN CHEROKEE GROUP, MISSOURI

The pre-mining thickness raster images are based on data from over 4,000 descriptive coal exploration drill holes, water well logs, oil well logs and mineral test holes logged prior to July 1, 2008. These data are recorded in the National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS), which is administered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Geology and Land Survey (DGLS) has entered data in NCRDS since 1975. To date over 10,000 points have been entered into this system from across Missouri. The data from water, oil and test wells are archived at DGLS.

Thickness raster images for eleven predominant coal beds of the Cherokee Group are depicted in this poster: Bevier, Croweburg, Drywood, Fleming, Mineral, Mulky, Robinson Branch, Rowe, Tebo, Weir and Wheeler. The coal deposits are shown in color categories based on inches of coal thickness. Coal thickness data are predominantly from the NCRDS dataset and supplemented with DGLS data as explained previously. Coal thickness between data points was interpolated and may not accurately depict the thickness of the coal in these areas.

Thickness depicted on this map is based on pre-mining data and may not accurately depict current thickness of the various coal beds. These raster images should facilitate the identification of areas in which major Cherokee coal beds may occur in thickness sufficient enough to be considered economically mineable. Additional subsurface investigation is recommended in order to determine if it is feasible to extract the coal under current economic, technologic and regulatory conditions.

ESRI^® ArcMap^TM 9.3 and its extensions, Arcview^® Spatial Analyst and 3-D Analyst, were used to prepare the raster images for this poster. Funding for this project was obtained from a U.S. Department of Energy grant through the Energy and Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks, ND; an USGS cooperative NCRDS grant; and state general revenue funds through DGLS.