Honors Program
Midway Honors
Date of Award
12-2010
Thesis Professor(s)
Brajesh Kumar Dubey
Thesis Professor Department
Environmental Health
Thesis Reader(s)
Cathy Landy, Michael McKamey
Abstract
Surface coal mining has become the ideal method for extracting coal from the Appalachia Mountains. However, surface coal mining generates large amounts of waste which may decrease the water quality in central Appalachia. This research is an attempt to determine whether surface coal mining negatively impacts water quality. This research consists of a literature review in addition to an analysis of data obtained through the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. This data was analyzed at three separate locations along the Clinch River, VA to determine trends and cycles in pH, temperature, total hardness, and chloride, sulfate and metal concentrations. After analysis of data, it was concluded surface mining did not negatively impact water quality at these three locations. In addition, more research must be done to make a more accurate, concise conclusion between water quality and surface mining.
Document Type
Honors Thesis - Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Moore, Sara, "An Investigation of How Surface Coal Mining Affects Water Quality." (2010). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 5. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/5
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.