GC4N1N0 Coal Mine Disasters (Earthcache) in West Virginia, United States created by rainbowtree

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GC4N1N0 ▼

A cache by rainbowtree Message this owner

Hidden : 9/1/2013

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EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:

1. MESSAGE …. a. What caused the Kermit Mine disaster? ... b. What is a drift mouth? ... c. What is a haulageway?

2. MESSAGE …. Based on the sign, How far from the drift mouth were the bodies found?

3. MESSAGE …. a. What is the height of the mine opening? ... b. How thick is the coal seam? (Use your flashlight to view the sides of the mine. No need to venture inside.) ... c. what caused the burn patterns on the rocks?

4. MESSAGE …. a. What is the temperature at the sign? ... b. What is the temperature at the mouth of the mine?

OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in finding and creating this earthcache by adding A B C to your log.

A. Post a picture at or near the posted coords. This picture is your log signature verifying that you were at the earthcache.

B. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.

C. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you ... prose / story / poem / picture. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.

WHY DO COAL MINES EXPLODE?

-There are two main types of coal mine explosions: methane explosions and coal dust explosions.

-Methane explosions occur in mines when a buildup of methane gas, a byproduct of coal, comes into contact with a heat source, and there is not enough air to dilute the gas to levels below its explosion point. Each ton of coal contains between 100 to 600 cubic feet of methane. When air contains 5% to 15% of methane, it can explode.

-Mine explosions can also be triggered when fine particles of coal dust come into contact with a source of heat.

-In a worst case scenario, a methane explosion has the potential to ignite a more catastrophic coal dust explosion.

KERMIT MINE DISASTER

-Mingo County had never suffered a major mine disaster until January 18, 1951 when the No. 1 Mine at the Kermit Burning Springs Collieries Company exploded. The mine was opened in 1942, and located twenty-one miles west of Williamson, West Virginia. They employed 80 men, and 68 of the men worked underground.

-At the time of the accident, 45 men were inside the mine. However, the explosion was confined to only one section. Thirteen men were working in the section that blew, and eleven men were killed. Shortly after the explosion, a motorman delivering a trip of empty cars near the site noticed smoke and dust in the haulageway. He immediately notified the outside mine office of his findings, and Superintendent T. L. Lambert, went underground to investigate.

-Investigators said the only piece of electrically driven equipment in operation at the explosion site was a loading machine which had three poorly made splices in a trailing cable. They reasoned this could have exposed conductors to make contact with the machine frame which could have produced sparks capable of igniting gas causing the explosion. Although the possibility that the explosion may have be ignited by someone smoking could not be discounted.

-Officials declared the explosion to be accidental, and not the fault of carelessness of either mine officials or the men working. The disaster left behind eleven grieving widows and thirty-six fatherless children.

RESOURCES
http://www.coaleducation.org/glossary.htm
http://www.wvculture.org/history/disasters/kermit01.html
http://www3.gendisasters.com/west-virginia/20119/kermit-wv-gas-explosion-in-coal-mine-jan-1951
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/infodata/lesson_plans/Methane%20gas%20Production.pdf

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE - POLLUTION TO PAINT

Toxic Runoff Yellow and Other Paint Colors Sourced From Polluted Streams
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/toxic-runoff-yellow-and-other-paint-colors-sourced-from-polluted-streams-17561886/?no-ist

Ebb and Flow, by John Sabraw. Image courtesy of the artist.

Toxic runoff from coal mines contain ferric oxyhydroxides. Once the acidic ground water hits the air, the metals in it oxidize and the once-clear water turns yellow, orange, red or brown.

An engineer and an artist at Ohio University team up to create paints made of sludge extracted from streams near abandoned coal mines.

The project is certainly a clever model for stream remediation, and both Riefler and Sabraw are driven to bring their product to the market, so that they can have a positive impact on the environment. Here, something that is nasty—acid mine drainage—is turned into something useful—paint—and beautiful—Sabraw’s paintings, with organic shapes reminiscent of trees, streams and landforms.

“What we are doing is trying to make the streams viable. We want life back in the streams,” says Sabraw. “It is certainly possible, and what we are doing is enabling that to happen.”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - WEST VIRGINIA COAL

FORMATION OF COAL

There are two basic requirements for the formation of coal - a source of plant material and preservation of that material from decay. The change from plant fragments to coal is gradual, consisting of many stages. After dead plant debris sinks into the waters of the swamp, bacteria go to work, breaking down the cell structure and reducing the plant material to rotted wood and leaves, fine fragments, or a jellylike mass. Bacterial action probably continues for only a short time after the peat is buried under sand and mud deposits in the swamp. As the layer of sediment grows thicker, its weight compacts the peat to a fraction of its original thickness, driving out moisture and closing pore space. Temperature increases steadily as the peat is buried deeper and deeper below the surface of the earth. As thousands of feet of sediments are added, the increasing heat sequentially alters peat to lignite, subbituminous coal, bituminous coal, and, finally, anthracite. This process of coalification works slowly and brings about these changes over large areas.

TYPES OF COAL
http://www.wvcoal.com/mining-101.html

There are four basic types of coal: Lignite, subbituminous, bituminous and anthracite.
-Lignite is the lowest rank of coal with the lowest energy content. Lignite is crumbly and has high moisture content. Lignite accounts for about 7% of U.S. coal production.
-Subbituminous coal has a higher heating value than lignite. Subbituminous coal typically contains 35-45% carbon, compared to 25-35% for lignite. About 44% of the coal produced in the United States is subbituminous.
-Bituminous coal contains 45-86% carbon and has two to three times the heating value of lignite. Bituminous coal was formed under high heat and pressure It is the most abundant rank of coal found in the United States, accounting for about half of U.S. coal production.
-Anthracite contains 86-97% carbon and has a heating value that is, on average, slightly higher than bituminous coal. It is very rare in the United States, accounting for less than 0.5% of the coal mined in the United States.

http://www.rocksandminerals.com/coal.htm
WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINING FACTS
http://www.wvminesafety.org/wvcoalfacts.htm

-Coal was first discovered in what is now West Virginia in 1742 by John Peter Salley in what is now Boone County.
-Coal occurs in 53 of West Virginia's 55 Counties only Jefferson and Hardy in the eastern panhandle have no coal.
-Forty-three counties have reserves of minable (economic) coal. WV Coal Resource Table
-There are 117 named coal seams in West Virginia.
-Sixty-five seams are considered minable.
-In 2009 coal was produced from 51 different coal seams in West Virginia.
-The Pittsburgh coal seam accounted for nearly 31 million tons of production in 2009.
-West Virginia has 4% of all coal reserves.

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Coal Mine Disasters EarthCache

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