Map and Chart--KGS
Abstract
The Lower Elkhorn (and its equivalents) is one of the leading producers of coal in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field with 12 to 18 million short tons of annual production between 1974 and 1996, according to the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals. Stratigraphically, the coal occurs in the lower part of the Pikeville Formation of the Breathitt Group (Fig. 1), which was previously part of the Breathitt Formation (Chesnut, 1992). The coal occurs from 150 to 300 ft above the base of a thick coarsening-upward sequence containing the Betsie Shale and from 250 to 450 ft beneath the base of the Kendrick Shale.
The Lower Elkhorn coal is overlain by laterally variable roof rocks, which control roof conditions during underground mining. Figure 2 summarizes the mining geology of the Lower Elkhorn coal. Features shown in the figure are discussed elsewhere in this chart. Splitting and thickness variation are discussed in Thacker and others (1998).
Publication Date
2000
Series
Series XII
Report Number
Map and Chart 4
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/kgs.mc04.12
Funding Information
Data collection was partly funded by the National Coal Resources Data System and National Coal Assessment Programs of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Repository Citation
Greb, Stephen F. and Weisenfluh, Gerald A., "Mining Geology of the Lower Elkhorn Coal" (2000). Map and Chart--KGS. 5.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kgs_mc/5
Notes
© 2000, by the University of Kentucky, Kentucky Geological Survey