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Study of the Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir

Study of the Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir . Surface Coal Mining. Surface Coal Mining is an ore extraction method to harvest coal buried under the land-surface. Surface Coal Mining is also referred to as Mountaintop Coal Mining Methods.

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Study of the Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir

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  1. Study of the Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir

  2. Surface Coal Mining • Surface Coal Mining is an ore extraction method to harvest coal buried under the land-surface. • Surface Coal Mining is also referred to as Mountaintop Coal Mining Methods

  3. Surface coal mining or Mountaintop coal mining methods: steep-slope mining, mountaintop removal, contour mining and area mining Sources: Wickham et al. (2007), Office of Surface Mining (http://www.osmre.gov/

  4. From: http://66.113.204.26/mining/coalsrf1.htm

  5. From: http://66.113.204.26/mining/coalsrf1.htm

  6. From: http://66.113.204.26/mining/coalsrf1.htm

  7. From: http://66.113.204.26/mining/coalsrf1.htm

  8. From: http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/oalsrf1.htm

  9. From: http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/oalsrf1.htm

  10. From: http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/oalsrf1.htm

  11. Surface Coal Mining • Coal-burning is a major source of energy in the United States and worldwide.

  12. http://www.eia.doe.gov/

  13. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/statepro/imagemap/usaimagemap.htmhttp://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/statepro/imagemap/usaimagemap.htm

  14. http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelcoal.html

  15. Surface Coal Mining According to data from the USDOE Energy Information Administration: • Coal accounted for 23.2 quadrillion Btu’s per year of the energy produced in the United States or 33% of the total energy produced. • Globally coal accounted for 102.4 quadrillion Btu’s per year of the energy produced or 25% of the world’s energy source.

  16. Surface Coal Mining Looking to the future, the abundant reserves of coal in industrialized as well as developing countries serves as a practical means for inexpensive energy production while helping countries work towards energy independence. Bottom line: coal is cheap and there is lots of it…

  17. Surface Coal Mining …However, it is well known that coal burning produces greenhouse gases.

  18. Surface Coal Mining Coal-burning has been recognized as a major carbon dioxide (CO2) emission source to the atmosphere, which is a primary greenhouse gas. CO2 is transparent to light but rather opaque to heat rays. Therefore, CO2 in the atmosphere allows light to pass to the earth’s surface but retards the radiation of heat from the earth back into space — the “greenhouse effect”. Thus the biosphere becomes warmed.

  19. Recent research has shown increased CO2 levels in the earth’s atmosphere over the past 50 yrs due to fossil fuel burning. http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CarbonCycle.html

  20. Surface Coal Mining According to data from the USDOE Energy Information Administration: • Coal consumption for energy production and manufacturing was responsible for 2.10 billion metric tons per year of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere in the United States from 1997 to 2006 accounting for 36% of the CO2 produced in the United States due to the burning of fossil fuels. • 9.77 billion metric tons of CO2 per year were emitted worldwide due to coal burning accounting for 38% of world’s CO2 emissions due to fossil fuel consumption.

  21. Surface Coal Mining Environmental mandates and carbon budgeting efforts have placed increased importance upon reduction of greenhouse gas emission (GHG) from coal-fired plants. Efforts to reduce GHG emission have recently placed emphasis upon CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) methods. CCS research and development efforts are undoubtedly focused upon reducing CO2 emissions during coal burning in order produce a more eco-friendly technology.

  22. Notwithstanding the importance of CCS efforts to improve the imprint of coal burning on the environment, more importance needs to be placed on the impacts of coal mining upon terrestrial carbon including plant C, soil C and sediment C in streams and rivers.

  23. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon Why Terrestrial Carbon?

  24. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon Source: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/carbon/efcarbon.html

  25. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon Numbers are: Gt C = Gigatons Carbon (109 metric tons) which is the same as Pg C = Petagrams Carbon (1015 grams)

  26. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon Source: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/carbon/efcarbon.html

  27. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon While the carbon reservoirs and the associated fluxes are well known, the actual magnitude of the fluxes is not well known for terrestrial carbon sources. The carbon cycle is a closed system, however, the cycle is NOT balanced. The unbalance of the carbon cycle is attributed to the “missing terrestrial sink”.

  28. The increase in atmospheric CO2 is only about one-half of what would have been expected from the amount of fossil fuel consumption and forest burning over the past 50 years. ? http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CarbonCycle.html

  29. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon “Unbalance” for the 1990s. The average increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels do not balance with the fossil fuel emissions, emissions from land-use change and oceanic uptake. Hence the “Missing Carbon Sink” much of which is attributed to terrestrial carbon changes in reforestation, soils and particulate and dissolved carbon fluxes associated with inland freshwater ecosystems, i.e., streams, lakes and rivers (Cole et al. 2007; Van Oost 2007; Mayorga et al. 2005; Mayorga 2008; Pacala 2001)

  30. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon Currently, scientists and engineers are faced with the task of re-examining terrestrial carbon storage and flux. Important questions are: What is the uptake of carbon associated with reforestation? What is the flux of C (outgassing) from streams? How does land-use disturbance redistribute carbon? What are the biogeochemical processes governing terrestrial carbon fluxes?

  31. Carbon Cycle and Terrestrial Carbon Currently, scientists and engineers are faced with the task of re-examining terrestrial carbon storage and flux. Important questions are: What is the uptake of carbon associated with reforestation? What is the flux of C (outgassing) from streams? How does land-use disturbance redistribute carbon? What are the biogeochemical processes governing terrestrial carbon fluxes?

  32. Study of the Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir ?????

  33. Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir Surface coal mining or MCM removes above ground vegetation, which is harvested for timber or logged, removes soil C which is mineralized or stockpiled, and causes the erosion of sediment particulate organic matter to streams and rivers of which the fate is unknown for stream systems (Shrestha and Lal 2006; Cole et al. 2007). From: http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/oalsrf1.htm

  34. Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir In addition, after mining spoil is replaced to the land-surface. The reclaimed land surface contains high amounts of coal fragments or geogenic organic matter of which the fate is unknown. Further, after mining the land is reclaimed and begins to re-grow vegetation. The uptake of soil and non-soil (plant) C on reclaimed lands is not well established.

  35. Study of the Impact of Surface Coal Mining on the Terrestrial Carbon Reservoir is particularly important in the Southern Appalachian Forest Region, USA.

  36. Southern Appalachian forest region Coal Reserves in the United States SAFR • Source: http://www.ket.org/Trips/Coal/AGSMM/agsmmwhere.html

  37. Southern Appalachian forest region • The SAFR is located in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia and portions of eastern Tennessee. • The mountainous region is characterized by lush, temperate rain forests with high carbon storage. • Based on data from the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the SAFR was responsible for 23.3% of the coal produced in the United States during the time period from 1995 to 2007 (250 million tonnes per yr). The SAFR is estimated to have 23.9 billion tonnes of high quality coal remaining in the study area.

  38. Southern Appalachian forest region Appalachian surface or mountaintop coal mining methods were increased substantially in the SAFR during the early 1990s due to the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act prompting energy generation industries to favor sources of low-sulfur coal coupled with the development of larger and more efficient machinery for excavation and removal (Wickham et al. 2007).

  39. Southern Appalachian forest region • Terrestrial carbon in the SAFR has been impacted by widespread use of MCM methods over the past two decades. • It has been estimated that the 4,856,247 ha SAFR was 92% forest in 1992 and that mountaintop coal mining methods will remove 6.8% of the forest between 1992 and 2012 (USEPA 2005).

  40. Southern Appalachian Forest Region

  41. Carbon redistribution due to MCM methods in the SAFR

  42. The flux of carbon associated with terrestrial losses and redistribution during surface coal mining warrants further research. • The amount of aboveground, plant C and soil C removed during mining operations and the fate of these C pools is not well known. • The fate of organic carbon associated with sediment particulate organic matter that is eroded from mining and reclaimed sites is unknown. • The storage and fate of geogenic organic matter on reclaimed lands is not well known nor is the uptake of atmospheric C during re-growth and the re-establishment of the soil column.

  43. The focus of this REU/RET is to better understand the impact of surface coal mining on Terrestrial Carbon Losses and Redistributions in the coal mining lands of the Southern Appalachian Forest Region.

  44. We will place specific emphasis upon studying the change in soil carbon and carbon associated with sediment particulate organic matter in streams in order to understand changes in terrestrial carbon. For example: • Measure changes in the soil carbon reservoir at un-mined, mined, and reclaimed mining sites. • Measure the impacts of coal mining upon erosion of carbon in watersheds with various levels of disturbance.

  45. To perform the studies we will focus on small-scales, such as the footprint of a single mining site, and then scale-up to address regional carbon budgeting scales.

  46. Study Watersheds for Studying Terrestrial Carbon Losses and Redistribution

  47. Study Watersheds for Studying Terrestrial Carbon Losses and Redistribution

  48. Study Watersheds for Studying Terrestrial Carbon Losses and Redistribution

  49. Research Program Objectives The Objectives of the Research Program has been divided into two parts including: • “Study of Soil and Plant Carbon on Surface Mining Sites with Different Soil Bulk Density” ------- Soils Team • “Study of Carbon Source, Fate and Transport in Southern Appalachian Watersheds” ------- Stream Team **REU participants will focus on Objective 1 or 2 and be part of the Soils Team and Stream Team.

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