U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1625-A Version 1.2
1999 RESOURCE ASSESSMENT OF SELECTED
TERTIARY COAL BEDS AND ZONES IN THE
NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND
GREAT PLAINS REGION
By
Fort Union Coal Assessment Team
1999
USGS Energy Resources Team
Box 25046, MS939
Denver, CO 80225
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bruce Babbitt, Secretary
U.S. Geological Survey
Charles G. Groat, Director
Available from:
USGS Information Services
Box 25286, Building 810
Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225
Call: (303) 202-4200
For more information about the Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains Region National Coal Resources Assessment Project, please contact:
Dr. Romeo Flores
rflores@usgs.gov
(303)-236-7774
U.S. Geological Survey
Denver Federal Center
P.O. Box 25046, MS939
Denver, CO 80225
For more information on this CD-ROM, please contact:
Ken Takahashi
kt@usgs.gov
phone: 303-236-5782
Box 25046, MS 939
Denver Federal Center,
Denver, CO 80225-0046
I. INTRODUCTION
The Paleocene Fort Union Formation in the northern Rocky
Mountains and Great Plains region contains 18 coal beds and zones
that yielded more than 38 percent (383 million short tons) of the
greater than 1 billion short tons of coal produced in the United States in
1998. These Fort Union coal beds and zones are thick, clean, and
compliant (low ash and low sulfur). They are targets for continued
development and expanded utilization in the next few decades.
Relatively low concentrations of trace elements of environmental
Concern, named in the Amendments to the 1990 Clean Air Act, in this
coal make it a valuable resource for decades to come. The coal
of the Fort Union Formation is in demand by as many as 144
electric power generation plants in 25 States of the conterminous
U.S. Fort Union coal deserves recognition and assessment because
of its unique characteristics and its contribution to economic
and industrial growth. Selected Fort Union coal beds and zones
in this region were assessed by a group of multidisciplinary
scientists, technicians, and computer specialists from 1994
to 1999 as a part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National
Coal Resource Assessment project.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the coal resource assessment are to:
*compile the information needed and assess selected coal
beds and zones of the Fort Union Formation and equivalent
formations that are potentially minable in the next few
decades.
*Identify clean and compliant coal that meets
standards of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency for sulfur,
ash, and trace elements of environmental concern.
*Create a publicly available digital database of the Fort Union
coal resources that can be rapidly accessed and analyzed to
provide information critical to decision-making by government,
industry, and the public.
*Produce widely available digital products accessible in a
variety of interpretive and interactive forms.
This publication is a two CD-ROM set containing the Fort Union Coal Assessment Team's report. Disc 1 contains the report in Portable Document Format (PDF) files which require Adobe Acrobat for viewing. Acrobat software runs on a variety of systems, and is available free of charge from Adobe (www.adobe.com).
Version 1.2 of this publication incorporates corrections to Chapters PA, PS, and MO. The changes consist of corrections to figures (in PA and PS), and changes to file names and navigation buttons in the MO chapter. The installers for Adobe Acrobat are included on disc 1 as well.
II. DISCLAIMERS
This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory(CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.
Although all data and software published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of this data, software, or related materials.
III. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
In addition to the system requirements discussed below, several PDF files require Apple Quicktime software to operate properly. This software is usually included in Macintosh system installations. For Windows95 or Windows NT the proper software can be obtained from Apple, Inc. or their website, www.apple.com. System requirements for Macintosh and PC systems are higher than those for viewing the ".pdf" files.
A. Macintosh computer (Macintosh II series with 68020 or greater processor, including all Power Macintosh computers), with MacOS 7.1.2 or later.
1. 4.5 MB application RAM, 6.5 MB recommended).
2. 8 MB of hard disk space.
B. Intel personal computer (486 minimum, Pentium or Pentium Pro recommended), with Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later.
IV. INSTRUCTIONS AND DOCUMENTATION FOR Professional Paper 1625A
A. To get started:
Use of this CD-ROM requires the installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader and Apple QuickTime. Both of these packages are available for download free of charge from Adobe Inc. (www.adobe.com) and Apple Inc. (www.apple.com). Help files and on-line manuals describe the software in detail however, the following sections will help you get started.
1. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 on your hard drive if not already installed. Refer to the read me and text files supplied with the Acrobat reader software for specific installation instructions.
2. Launch Acrobat Reader and open the 1625A.pdf file on the Disc1 CD-ROM.
3. Hints for using Adobe Acrobat
The Acrobat toolbar is located along the top of the Acrobat screen. Most of the icons in the tool bar are self-explanatory. The arrow icons move one page at a time. The bar-arrow icons go to the first or last page in the file. The double-arrow icon allows the user to go back and retrace previous views.
Clicking on the red text links to other relevant pages or portions of pages or maps. The cursor changes to a pointing finger when it passes over links. For example, the hand cursor, changes to a pointing finger, which indicates that it is over a link.
The PDF files contain several buttons to facilitate navigation within and between files. The left and right pointing red triangles advance the reader to previous and next page in the PDF file. The "Go Back" button, the left pointing arrow in the tool bar, should be used to return to the previous view. This is especially useful for returning from references in the text. Several clicks on "Go Back" button may be required since each panning or magnification change is considered a view by the Acrobat Reader software. The magnification glass button can be accessed in the tool bar at the top of the screen to zoom in or out. The "Thumbnail" icons on the left side of the screen can be clicked on to jump directly to that page. The page that is currently displayed will be highlighted. A box on the "Thumbnail" shows which portion of the page is being displayed. Moving this box will display a different portion of the page. Changing the size of the box will also change the amount of enlargement.
The Acrobat Reader software is described in more detail in the Online Guide that can be accessed once you open the Acrobat application.
B. Contents
Files on the Disc1 CD-ROM include:
1625A.pdf
Chapters
DB.pdf
ES.pdf
GB.pdf
GF.pdf
GM.pdf
GN.pdf
GQ.pdf
GS.pdf
HB.pdf
HF.pdf
HM.pdf
HN.pdf
HQ.pdf
HS.pdf
IM.pdf
IN.pdf
MO.pdf
PA.pdf
PAR.pdf
PB.pdf
PC.pdf
PD.pdf
PF.pdf
PG.pdf
PH.pdf
PM.pdf
PN.pdf
PQ.pdf
PS.pdf
SB.pdf
SD.pdf
SM.pdf
SN.pdf
SR.pdf
SW.pdf
WB.pdf
WF.pdf
WM.pdf
WN.pdf
WQ.pdf
WS.pdf
moovs
moov01.mov
moov02.mov
moov03.mov
moov04.mov
moov05.mov
moov06.mov
moov07.mov
moov08.mov
moov09.mov
moov10.mov
moov11.mov
moov12.mov
moov13.mov
moov14.mov
moov15.mov
moov16.mov
moov17.mov
moov18.mov
moov19.mov
moov20.mov
moov21.mov
moov22.mov
moov23.mov
moov24.mov
moov26.mov
moov27.mov
moov28.mov
moov29.mov
The ".pdf" files are read by Acrobat Reader software. The ".mov "files in the directory are QuickTime movies. Performance can be improved by copying the files to a hard drive, however, be sure to maintain the same folder structure.