Evidence is presented of ERTS capability to detect, map and monitor the effects of strip mining. Both enlarge ERTS imagery and statistically processed outline maps and imagery of stripped earth and standing water are compared to aerial photos of a strip mine near Coshocton, Ohio. The outline maps and decision imagery are at present limited to forming a disruption map of recently mined and unreclaimed earth and the resultant standing water within the mined area. It is planned to prepare a map of the reclaimed areas (reclamation map) within the stripped area and to detect and identify ecological effects such as vegetation kills and stream sedimentation external to the stripped areas

Chase, P. E.

Pettyjohn, W. A.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

Paper E 2 
ERTS-1 INVESTIGATION OF ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF STRIP MINING IN 
EASTERN OHIO 
Phillip 5. Chase, The Bendix Corporation, Anr; Arbor, Michipn, 
Wayne Fettyjohn, Ohio State Un'versity, Columbus, Ohio 
ABSTRACT 
Evidellce i s  presented of ERTS capability to detect, map and monitor 
the effects of strip mining. Both enlarged ERTS imagery and statistically 
processed outline maps and imagery of stripped earth and standing water 
a r e  compared to aerial  photos of a s tr ip mine near Coshocton, Ohio. The 
outline maps and decision imagery a re  a t  present limited to forming a 
disruption map of recently minea and unreclaimed earth and the resultant 
standing water within the mined area. It i s  ~ l a n n e d  to prepare a map of 
the reclaimed areas  (reclamation map) within the stripped area  and to 
detect and identify ecological effects such a s  vegetation kills and stream 
sedimentation external to the stripped areas. 
During recent years  the expansion of industry in the United States 
has created an increasing demand for fuel. Newspapers almost daily 
record grim near and long-term shortages of oil reserves and limitations 
in distribution and sl orage. Coal i s  a major fuel source in both Appala- 
chia and Ohio, and the new demand for i t  will ii-crease the already ex- 
tensive area  of underground and str ip mining in the region. 
Strip mining i s  on the increase in Appalachia. From 1940 to 1963 
str ip mining has increased from 9 to 34% of the Appalachian coal produc- 
tion ( U S  bureau of Mines, 1963). For five states - Kentucky, Maryland, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee - str ip mine production accounted for 
over one-third of the production, and for two - Ohio and Maryland - 
over 60%. The increase in  stripped acreage in five counties in Ohio, 
a s  shown in Table 1, i s  typical. The area  encorllpassing stripping (as 
well a s  continuing underground mininc) i s  shown in Figure 1 (Bre eeckei 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19730019534 2020-03-17T08:42:57+00:00Z
and George, 1966). The deposit a r e a  i s  approximately 50,000 square 
miles. 
2. TEST AREA IN OHIO 
The a rea  encompassed by this investigation includes five cow-ties 
in  the coal mining region of the dissected Allegheny Plateau in eas t -  
central  Ohio. The counties, which comprise nearly 3,000 square miles ,  
include, f rom west to east ,  Muskingum, Coshocton, Guernsey, Tuscar-  
was, and Belmont. They l ie  in a hilly region along the western flank of 
Appalachia and a r e  bounded on the eas t  by the Ohio River. Their location 
within Appalachia is shown in Figure 1. A mine eas t  of Coshocton is the 
example shown in this paper. 
TABLE 1 
COUNTY DATA OF STRIP MINING, IN ACRES* 
-. 
C o s k ~ c t o n  Bel1::ont Guernsey Tuscarawag MII skin-urn 
County Total 349,000 343,000 332,000 353,000 424, 000 
Tctal A r e a  17,440 23,296 4, 369 22,995 13.684 
Aftcctcd 
Percentage Total 5. 00 6.79 1. 31 6. 5 1  3. 27 
Area AffccLecl 
Total 1:cclaimcd 13,390 11,443 3,705 14,885 7.699 
--- -----.-- --- 
*Data taken f r o m  Divi:.~on of F o r r s t r p  and Kecl;lnlntion, Ohio Dcporlnlen: of 
Natural l i C s o u r c c ~  (Marcli I ,  19'iL). 
3. GEOLOGY OF THE AREA 
Although only a very small par t  of the a r e a  was g l a ~ i a t e d ,  exten- 
sive deposits of outwash fil l  the valleys of the major  r i ve r s  and a few of 
their  tributaries.  Elsewhere bedrock crops out, striking in a northeast- 
southwest direction and dipping about 25 f t fmi le  to  the southeast. 
Figure 1 Location of Coal Deposits ( I )  
The oldest rocks crop out in  the western part  of Muskingum and 
Coshocton Counties; eastward the rocks become progressively younger. 
All of the exposed bedrock represent  Paleozoic s t rata  that range in age 
from Mississippian to Permian. They include the shale, sandctone and 
limestone of the Logan and Maxville units of Mississippian age; '.he 
Pottsville, Allegheny, Conemaugh and Monogahela Formations of Per,.&- 
sylvania age, consisting of shale, sandstone, l ime stone and coal beds; 
and the deposits of shale, sandstone and coal forming the Dunkard Croup 
of Permian age, which covers  much of Belmont County. These exposed 
s t ra ta  range in thickness from ahout 610 feet in  Coshoctcn County to 
about 1100 feet in Belmont County. 
4. THE STIJSY PURPOSES 
The primary purpose of the studv i s  to demonstrate that ERTS- 1 
data can be used to prepare two types L A  maps. The c i r s t  i s  the disrup- 
tion map that quite simply maps stripped a r e a s  and : standing water 
between the spoil banks and the high wall. The second i s  a map of the 
progress  of reclamation of the stripped area.  Often reclamation con- 
s i s t s  only of an attempt to revegetate the stripped area.  
A secondary purpose is the monitoring of s t r i p  mine impact on thc 
land and water resources  exter ior  to the stripped area.  Two types of 
impact a r e  vegetation kill  and s t r eam pollutior. f rom acid mine drainage. 
Another type i s  heavy s t r eam sedimentat3on from erosion. 
The accomplishment of the pr imary purpose would be a long step 
toward a major  benefit of ERTS. 
5. ER rs- I IMAGERY AND DISRUPTIOE; MAPPING 
One significant resul t  is the relative ease with which ERTS- 1 will 
monitor new and unreclaimed stripping activities in Southeastern Ohio 
and in a l l  of Appalachia. The widths of the contour s t r i p s  of new o r  un- 
reclaimed stripped a r e a s  a r e  l isted in  Table 2 by ERTS- 1 band numbers. 
This measurement is obtained f rom cclmparison of the ERTS-1 scene to 
a r e a l  photos (Figure 2). 
Band 4 
--
TABLE 2 
MINIMUM DIMENSION OF STRIP MINES BY RAND 
(WIDTH OF A STRIPPED COPJTOUR IN FEET) 
Band 5 Band 6 
-. 
The dtrip  mine^ etsnd out well e n ~ u g h  to Se easily identified with- 
out other graphic aide (photos o r  maps). Since the shape i n  qujte die- 
tinctive , detection of other a reas  .? Appalachia without other graphic 
aide appearr p?rrible for a trained photo interpreter.  (See Figure 3A!. 
Standing water within the btrip mined area  rtands out in either bandr 
6 or  7. (See Figure 3B). . \ r e a ~  of reveral  ac res  a r e  visible. Signif; . 
cant increaear in rurface extent of water in stripped a rea r  qhould be de- 
tectable on a comparative basis. Yowever, geometric control in the 
change detection procer e would have to be carefully maintained. 
An alternate approach to the preparation of disruption maps i s  map- 
ping from the CCT. There a re  several porsibilitiee for  the preparotion 
of automatically clae rified maps. The f i rs t  type i r  the decirion imagery 
of rtripped earth and anding (or other) water a8 rhown in Figurqr 4A 
and 4C, r e  mpectively(ii. A recond por ribility i u  probability imagery that 
rhowr earth and water each in one reparate ecene. ('1 A third alternative 
i r  an outline map of the particular thematic clarsification much a r  earth 
and water in Figurer 4 8  and 4D, rerpectively. 
TLir mine e a r t  of Corhocton har featurer - turned earth m d  water - 
that a r e  readily reen in the imagery and readily ~ l a r r i f i e d .  It i r  neither 
the ear ier t  to clam rify nor the moat difficult and withN'.t quertion the 
capability ?o map otrip mine dirruption from ERTS i b  near  a t  hmd, It 
mur t  be kept in mind that dirrupticm of thir ruturr  io e r r i e r t  to  identify 
a=rd m9rt  derirable to monitor from .a ecological view point. 
6. RECLAMATION MAPPING 
Reclamation mapping i r  a monitoring tark  thr t  i r  more complex 
than dirruption mrpping. Reclamation i r  the levc ling of the rpoilr brxik, 
removal of rtanding water (when nece r ra  -y), and planting the a rea  * b t  
remainm. The difficulty a r i r e r  from degree of ruccerr  of reclunation 
in percentage cover and from the variety of vegetation ured ivetch, pi- 
F;gure 2 Aerial Photo 
B .  
Banc 5 E.,rc ., .rth I3and 7 '>?atc r 
Figure 3 Scene 101.14- 134 15 
Decision Imagery of Stripped 
Land - 4 Bands ::500,000 
Decision Imagery of Water - 
4 Bands 1:500,000 
Cal Comp Outline of Stripped 
Land - 4 Bands 1: 125,000 
Cal Comp %Mine of Water - 
4 Bands 1:125,000 
Figure 4 Decisior? Imagery and Cal Comp Plots of 
Stripped Land and Standing Water - Scene 
1029-15361 August 21, 1972 
ti-ees, black locust and natural recovery). The statistical techniques 
using the CCT described for disruption mapping will be employed to 
develop reclamation maps. Reclamation has been conducted northeast 
and adjacent to the strip-mine shown in these figures. It i s  barely ob- 
servable in the imagery. Prel iminary processing of the CCT enhances 
the presence of reclamation. 
7. ACID DJIAINAGE & SEDIMENTATION 
The secondary effects of acid mine drainage and s t ream sedimen- 
tation resulting from erosion i s  the most  difficult task underway. A 
possible example for detailed study i s  the water system shown in Figures  
3A, 4B and D. The apparent headwaters appear to  be an  a r e a  poorly 
vegetated and v a r y i ~ g  in extent of standing water (swamp). Ground obser-  
vation and measurement and multispectral scanr,er data from an  a i r c r a f t  
will be obtained and used to  determine the feasibility of ERTS to detect 
and identify such secondary effects external  to the disrupted area. 
8. SIGNIFICANT RESULTS 
The f i r s t  significant resul t  i s  that now disruption m a r s  can be 
made automatically f rom the CC T on an operational basis  a t  Bendix. 
Secondly reclamation maps will be produced in  the same way in  the near  
future. The accomplishment of these steps i s  a prerequisite t o  3evelop- 
ing an ERTS s t r ip  mine monitoring operation. 
In the course of this  work i t  can be shown through ERTS data of the 
Coehocton Eas t  Mine that in  the past year  a dammed body of water of 
about 5 ac re s  has  appeared, apparently little o r  no stripping has occurred, 
and that no additional reclamation is apparent in the more  recently 
stripped areas .  
9. REFERENCES 
( l )  Biesecker, J. E. and J. R. George, 1966. "Stream Quality in  Appala- 
chia a s  related to Coal-Mine Drainage, 1965. USGS Circular 526, 
Washington, D. C. 
('1 Chase, P. E. , Conrod, A,, and E. Imhoff, 1972. "Location of Saw- 
dust i n  the Penobscot River by a Multispectral Scanner", Proceedings 
of 8th Iaternational Symposium on Remote Sensing, Ann Arbor, Michi- 
gan (To be published). Available a s  Bendix Report BSR 3457, Ann 
Arbor, Michigan. 


ERTS-1 investigation of ecological effects of strip mining in eastern Ohio

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