Aspects of Water Quality and Their Relationship to Hydrology in Coal Mined Drainage Basins in the Cumberland Mountains

Coal is an abundant resource in the Cumberland Mountain area of Tennessee. Some possible effects of coal mining on stream water quality were examined as nineteen sampling sites in the New River basin were monitored by-weekly for iron, manganese, sulfate, turbidity total solids, suspended solids, and settleable solids over a sampling period from September, 1972, to October, 1973. Twelve of the sampling sites were located in two small watersheds within the New River basin, both watersheds having experienced 17% surface area disturbance from mining and one having been deep auger mined. Chemical and physical interpretations of water quality were correlated with New River hydrological information. Evidence was found of substantial mining effects on water quality, of varying importance of surface and subsurface water movement on water quality, and of mathematical correlation of measurement parameters with flow data.