A lot of factors go into how a landscape is formed. Geological forces, environmental forces, wind, water, and human involvment. This earthcache will study how coal has effected the landscape and environment in this area through its geological formation, chemical breakdown and the human element of coal removal. How does Acidic Mine Drainage change the area physically? This earthcache is located at the Lloydsville Water Treatment Site for the Bells Gap Watershed within State Game Lands 158.
While you are here, take a look at the landscape and think about these questions.
Parking coordinates are provided (N 40° 40.135 W 078° 24.406). This should be an easy walk along a dirt State Game Lands Road.
This cache is located on State Game Lands, please wear the appropriate amount of orange during the primary hunting seasons.
To claim the find for this Earthcache you must visit the location and provide the following information to the cache owner via email. If all requirements are not completed, your log can and may be deleted.
Question 1: Explain how the landscape here has been formed by geology. What other forces have changed the landscape? How?
Question 2: Read the left sign. What type of coal is this area primarily rich in?
Question 3: According to the 'AMD Facts' listed on the middle sign, about what percentage of stream miles in Pennsylvania are polluted by acid mine drainage? Note that you will have to divide the estimated number of polluted stream miles by the estimated total stream miles in PA.
Question 4: Take a look at Lloydsville Run (the stream) as it flows away from the location of this earthcache. What color is the stream bed? What geological factor causes this? What human factor?
Question 5: According to the sign on the right, the Lloydsville Run Site Treatment System utilizes what type of treatment system?
Question 6: Could AMD affect the geology of this region? How?
Coal
Formation
Coal forms from the accumulation of plant debris, usually in a swamp environment. When plant debris dies and falls into the swamp the standing water of the swamp protects it from decay. Swamp waters are usually deficient in oxygen, which would react with the plant debris and cause it to decay. This lack of oxygen allows the plant debris to persist. In addition, insects and other organisms that might consume the plant debris on land do not survive well under water in an oxygen deficient environment. Pennsylvania, particularly the Appalachian Plateau and Allegheny Mountain Range, was at one time a series of islands and swamps leading to the creation of a large amount of coal in the state. Before mining began, there was an estimated 22.8 billion tons of Bituminous and Anthracite in Pennsylvania. As of 2001, 12 billion tons still remain in the ground, most of which is not economically feasible to mine. American geologists recognized the importance of Pennsylvania's coal region and named the Upper Carboniferous Period the Pennsylvanian Period because of the abundance of coal in the state.
Coal Mining
Coal mining in Pennsylvania helped fuel the Industrial Revolution in the United States. In 1889, Pennsylvania was America's number one coal producer. That year alone more than 80,000 tons of coal were mined statewide. Over the last two hundred years Pennsylvania has produced more than one-quarter of the nations total coal output.
The early steel and transportation industries relied heavily on local supplies of this valuable natural resource. Later, coal-burning power plants would supply much of the country's electicity.
Today coal still generates 40% of the world's electric supply. In Pennsylvania 53% of all energy is currently produced from coal.
Railroading
Railroading was the biggest business of the 19th century. Few industries affected the growth of America as significantly as the development of the ability to transport goods and people by rail.
With the completion of the Horsehoe Curve in 1854 and the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, large-scale expansion into the western United States became possible. At this time, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR) operated 7,000 engines and 250,000 cars, making it one of the largest railroad companies in the nation. The city of Altoona, was a major hub for the PRR.
Spur lines could now bring goods into the towns and export local resources to the mainline and ultimately the rest of the United States. One such spur line was the Bells Gap Railroad.
Lloydsville
The town of Lloydsville played a crucial roal in the coal mining history of this region. Lloydsville is situated along the Allegheny Front, where the Lower Alleghenies to our East meet with the higher peaks of the Allegheny Mountains to our West. This area was home to numerous, easily accessible seams of bituminous coal. These seams were heavily minded to help fulfill America's energy needs during the Industrial Revolution.
The town of Lloydsville prospered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for several reasons. Lloydsville possessed abundant coal and timber resources ans well as a strong, determined workforce. In 1872, Lloydsville's population was made up of almost 600 coal miners. The Pennsylvania Railroad mainline was only 20 miles away, in the town of Bellwood. When the Bells Gap Railroad spur was built in the 1870s, it connected the people and resources of Lloydsville with the PRR mainline and the rest of the nation.
Watersheds and Acid Mine Drainage
What is a Watershed?
A watershed is a region of land that drains to a common waterway. Any precipitation that falls in the area of this earthcache will drain into a stream called Lloydsville Run. Lloydsville Run flows into Bells Gap Run, which in turn flows into the Bellwood Reservoir. The Altoona City Authority treats water from the reservoir and distributes it to thousands of residents living in Blair County.
Bells Gap Run continues beyond the Bellwood Reservoir and eventually drains into the Little Juniata River which is a tributary of the Juniata River, which flows into the Sesquehanna River, the Chesapeake Bay, and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.
Watersheds are important because human activities directly impact the quality of the water within them. By protection local watersheds, you are protecting both your drinking water supply and crucial aquatic ecosystems.
Acid Main Drainage (AMD)
The unfortunate environmental legacy of hundreds of years of coal mining in Pennsylvania includes approximately 2,400 miles of polluted streams. Irresponsible coal mining has resulted in Pennsylvania's number one source of water pollution: Acid Mine Drainage (AMD).
Acid mine drainage forms when the mineral pyrite (also known as 'fool's gold'), which is often associated with seams of coal, becomes exposed to the atmosphere. Air and water break down pyrite into sulfuric acid and iron compounds. As groundwater carries this sulfuric acid through the mine spoil it dissolves and leaches out toxic metals. The resulting main drainage can contain not only iron, but also other metals such as aluminum and manganese. This combination of metals and acid can have disastrous effects on the ecosystem of a receiving stream.
Recognizing Acid Mine Drainage
There are many methods and techniques that can be used to determine if a steam is being affected by AMD. The most recognizable indicator is the color of the water and steam bed. The most common colors associated with AMD are red and orange, and these colors will stain materials that they contact. This staining is known as "yellow boy," and consists of iron that was once dissolved in the water. As this iron oxidizes, it coats rocks and cements the stream bed bottom. AMD that appears white or milky can idicate the presence of aluminum.
Other ways to determine the presence of AMD include testing the pH, sulfates and metals in the water. Another method is to look at the amount of diversity of insect life in a stream. This technique is and excellent method to gauge the health of the stream by examining the abundance and diversity of macro invertebrates. With careful analysis, this method can provide insight into the degree of degradation in some cases.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency lists Bells Gap Run as impaired by metals, silt, and low pH values.
Cleaning Up Acid Mine Drainage
When AMD is present, two of the most common methods to address the problem are Active Treatment and Passive Treatment. However, it can be quite difficult and expensive to remediate land and water resources that have been affected by AMD non-point source pollution.
Active Treatment
Active Treatment is the continuous addition of chemicals to waters polluted by abandoned mine drainage. Frequently used chemicals include limestone, hydrated lime, soda ash and caustic soda. Active Treatment Systems are used throughout the Commonwealth, and the generally perform quite will. However, there are several drawbacks to Active Treatment of AMD. First, most systems require a reliable power source for operation. Also, the purchase and delivery of chemicals can be costly. The chemicals must then be mixed and aerated into the polluted waters to settle. System maintenance as well as sludge removal from settling posds creates a financial burden for system operators. Finally, onsite chemical storage is often a problem, because many abandoned mine sites are in remote locations.
Passive Treatment
A Passive Treatment System is a great way to use nature's own chemical and biological processes to treat AMD and improve water quality. Early research into AMD led scientists to find that natural wetlands were capable of filtering and treating AMD pollutants without significantly harming the wetland system.
Unlike and Active Treatment System, there is no continuous activity of a person of machine treating the AMD. Thus, operating and maintenance costs are significantly lower for Passive Systems.
Several types of Passive Treatment Systems have been implemented across the state, such as Open Limestone Channels, Diversion Wells, Anoxic Limestone Drains, and Vertical Flow Systems and limestone beds.
Please be appropriately prepared and be careful. Please remember to enjoy the natural world and be careful not to damage it. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. As always, cache-in, trash-out!
Congratulations to carels, TheGeoSleuth and MI15Team: First to Find!
Congratulations to Mumzdaword & twentylives: Second to Find!
Explanation of Difficulty/Terrain Ratings:
Difficulty: 
obvious hiding spot / in plain sight / less than 10 minutes to find; easily recognized as a geocache / little or no camouflage; gives cache type and/or location of the cache / no hint needed or gives exact location of the cache; very little or no traffic and/or muggle activity / excellent GPSr reception.
Terrain: 
hard surface / easily identifiable trail or path / water hazard less than 1 inch deep; less than 1/2 mile from paved parking/road; light (less than 12 inches) vegetation growth / encounters with poisonous plants and/or wildlife unlikely/seldom; relatively flat, not steeper than 1 unit of height to 12 units of distance.
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