Powell River Project
Reclamation Guidelines for Surface-Mined Land in Southwest Virginia

Reclamation of Coal Refuse Disposal Areas

Authors: W. Lee Daniels, Associate Professor, and Barry Stewart and Dennis Dove, Graduate Research Assistants, Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech

Publication Number 460-131, June 1996

Reclamation of Coal Refuse Disposal Areas; Figure 2


Figure 2. Sulfate salts weeping from an active coal refuse pile. These salts are the product of acid sulfate weathering process within the fill and are transported to the fill surface by acidified seepage. When the seepage dries at the pile surface the salts precipitate as seen here.

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