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Impacts of surface mine valley fills on headwater floods in eastern Kentucky

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The potential impacts of valley fills associated with mountaintop removal/valley fill (MTR/VF) coal mining on downstream flooding in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky and adjacent states are a subject of public debate and scientific uncertainty. This study explored two aspects of this issue. First, hydrologic indices of relative runoff production and surface and subsurface flow detention were applied to conditions typical of headwater and low-order drainage basins in eastern Kentucky. Results show that there is a clear risk of increased flooding (greater runoff production and less surface flow detention) following MTR/VF operations, and suggest that, on balance, valley fills are more likely to increase rather than decrease flood potential. However, there is a wide range of outcomes, qualitatively and quantitatively. Flood risks can be increased or decreased, and the degree of either may vary markedly. The effects of MTR/VF mining on downstream peak flows are highly contingent on local pre- and post-mining conditions, and it would be unwise to apply generalizations to specific sites. Second, the occurrence of flash floods downstream of MTR/VF operations when nearby unmined areas did not flood or had less severe floods has frequently been explained (without supporting data) in terms of locally greater precipitation. The likelihood of such short-range variability of storm precipitation is evaluated by applying the state probability function to NEXRAD radar estimates of precipitation for two 2001 storms which produced flash floods in eastern Kentucky. The spatial structure of the storm precipitation indicates that at the scale of the analysis (pixel size of approximately 2 km) large local variations in storm precipitation are unlikely—that is, the probability of nearby hollows or low-order drainage basins receiving substantially different storm precipitation totals is low.

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Acknowledgements

The support and collaboration of the Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey and the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Grant Agreement No. 01HQGR0133, is gratefully acknowledged. The views and conclusions are those of the author and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the US Government. Viva Nordberg assembled and synthesized much of the background information on surface mining and hydrologic impacts in the southern Appalachian coalfields.

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  1. Department of Geography, Tobacco Road Research Team, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY , 40506-2207, USA

    Jonathan D. Phillips

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  1. Jonathan D. Phillips
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Correspondence to Jonathan D. Phillips.

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Phillips, J.D. Impacts of surface mine valley fills on headwater floods in eastern Kentucky. Env Geol 45, 367–380 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-003-0883-1

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