U.S. Department of the Interior a U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Geological Survey

Programs in West Virginia

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Line of wet weather


Wet weather
 springs and seeps

springs

Dry spring Wet weather


spring

Line of wet weather springs and seeps

Perennial


spring

Strip mine

Spoil Mine


pumpSubsidence crack

Subsidence


cracks

Drainage

Arrows denote general direction of ground-water flow

Freshwater

Salty water

Salty water

Unmined area

Underground coal mine

Mined area

Water table

Coal

Clay

Coal

Clay

Clay

Mine boundary

The safety, health, and economic well 

being of West Virginia’s citizens are important to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 

which is involved in water, resource, mapping, and land-use issues in many parts of 

the State. Through cooperative programs 

with many State and local agencies, the 

USGS is studying coal extraction and its 

effects and assessing water quality and mineral potential. Through national programs, 

citizens of West Virginia have access to the 

thousands of map, book, and digital products of the USGS. This Fact Sheet details 

some of the programs and activities of the 

USGS in West Virginia.

Resource Assessments

Coal accounts for between 20 and 25 

percent of the total energy used and more 

than 50 percent of the electricity generated 

in the United States. Coal from Appalachian Basin fields in West Virginia is a 

major resource for the Nation. Assessment 

of potential coal development recognizes 

both physical constraints and societal 

restrictions on mining. Since 1988, the 

USGS, in cooperation with the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey 

(WVGES), has identified these restrictions 

as part of a national effort to analyze the 

relation between mining restrictions and 

potential coal availability.

New technologies that use coal will 

require resources of specific and known 

quality. The economics of coal utilization 

depend on mining and transportation costs. 

Coal quality affects those costs, especially 

with respect to waste disposal. For example, high concentrations of sulfur in coal 

beds and associated rocks may produce 

acid drainage after mining or acid rain after 

combustion but may be beneficial in a synthetic fuel process. The USGS, is supplying 

information to the WVGES, for development of cost-effective strategies to predict 

areas of high potential for acid production, 

to mitigate acidity problems, and to cleanup 

existing contamination.

Since 1975, the USGS, in cooperation 

with the WVGES, has evaluated and correlated data from drill holes, mines, and outcrops by using the National Coal Resources 

Data System. The USGS regularly provides 

the WVGES with fossil and mineral analyses of key strata to identify coal beds better. 

The location and quality of coal resources 

throughout the State will be identified in the 

National Coal Assessment. 

A natural gas accumulation of regional 

dimensions may exist in the deep sandstone 

reservoirs in western West Virginia and 

other parts of the Appalachian basin. 

According to the 1995 USGS National 

Assessment of United States Oil and Gas 

Resources, several tens of trillions of cubic 

feet of gas may be recoverable from this 

contiuous-type accumulation. Recognizing 

the potential of this large energy resource, 

the USGS has begun a multiyear study in 

West Virginia and adjoining States to 

increase understanding of the nature, size, 

and origin of the continuous-type accumulation. 

Effects of Resource Extraction

Coal mining and other forms of resource 

extraction, including logging or drilling for 

oil and gas, affect West Virginians in many 

ways. The USGS, often in cooperation with 

the WVGES, has completed numerous 

studies of the economic, hydrologic, and 

water-quality effects of resource extraction 

throughout the State. The fracturing and 

subsidence of rock layers that result from 

underground mining increase the infiltration of precipitation and streamflow and 

also increase the volume of water in subsurface storage (fig. 1). These changes tend to 

reduce flood peaks and increase base flow 

in streams. 

Index of Subjects

Resource Assessments

Effects of Resource Extraction

National Water-Quality Assessment 

New River Gorge 

Streamflow Monitoring

Effects of Navigational Dams on Reaeration

of the Ohio River 

Water-Resources Appraisal of the 

Canaan Valley

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation

Mineral Assessments

Geologic Mapping 

Topographic Mapping 

Earth Science Information

Fish Health and Aquatic Ecology

Earth Science in the Public Service

Figure 1. Typical hydrology 

in mined and unmined areas.
Kanawha– 


New River 

Allegheny


and


Monongahela

Potomac

Water in mined areas generally has 

high concentrations of dissolved solids 

because of increased contact between the 

water and subsurface minerals. Where the 

sulfur content of the rocks is high enough, 

as is more common in the northern part of 

the State, the water becomes acidic and 

may contain undesirable concentrations of 

metals. The West Virginia Division of 

Environmental Protection (WVDEP) 

reports that acid mine drainage has 

affected at least 484 streams for a total of 

2,852 stream miles. A recent USGS 

assessment of potential mineral deposits 

included a map that shows the distribution 

of acid stream water. In some rivers, acid 

drainage kills all living creatures; in others, fish are able to live for a few weeks or 

months but are unable to reproduce. 

Expanding suburbs in the Deckers Creek 

Basin near Morgantown are affected by 

the area's history of acid mine drainage. 

USGS sampling in the Basin during 1993–

94 helped identify the most heavily 

affected areas and allowed the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture’s Natural 

Resources Conservation Service to set priorities for restoration.

Land-surface disturbance related to 

resource extraction can increase erosion, 

cause elevated concentrations of suspended sediment in streams, and lead to 

deposition of sediment in reservoirs and 

navigable rivers. Highway construction 

can produce large amounts of suspended 

sediment from small areas, but sediment 

yield can be even larger in basins affected 

only by mining and logging, according to 

USGS studies done in cooperation with 

the West Virginia Department of Highways and the West Virginia Division of 

Natural Resources. Like many other 

hydrologic processes, suspended-sediment transport is most important under 

extreme conditions, which makes monitoring, analysis, and interpretation difficult. 

For example, during more than 4 years of 

study in one basin, 30 percent of the total 

suspended-sediment movement occurred 

during just four storms.

National Water-Quality 

Assessment

An extensive data base of water-quality 

information for West Virginia has been 

developed through resource assessments 

of individual basins, studies of local problems, a series of federally funded coal 

hydrology studies, and long-term monitoring at several stream-gaging stations. The 

data base, however, is incomplete in the 

number of chemical and biological characteristics measured and in the limited range 

of sampling times and locations.

The USGS National Water-Quality 

Assessment (NAWQA) Program has longterm goals to describe the status and trends 

in the quality of a large, representative part 

of the Nation's surface- and ground-water 

resources and to identify the natural and 

human factors that affect their quality. 

About two-thirds of the State is included in 

three NAWQA Program study areas (fig. 

2). Between 1992 and 1996, the Potomac 

River Basin will have been intensively 

assessed; planning began in 1994 for 

assessments in the Allegheny and the 

Monongahela and the Kanawha–New 

River Basins. The assessments combine a 

comprehensive review of existing data, 

wide-ranging collection of new data, and 

regional analysis. These assessments provide the background within which local 

water-quality problems can be understood 

and managed; they also identify the occurrence and areal distribution of potential 

issues of concern. During the 1990's, the 

Program is focusing on pesticides; nutrients, such as nitrate and phosphate; volatile organic compounds; and aquatic 

ecology. The three study units have local 

liaison committees that involve more than 

100 individuals and organizations with 

water-quality interests and responsibilities. 

New River Gorge

The New River Gorge National River 

was established by the U.S. Congress in 

1978 to preserve a 53-mile-long reach of 

the river as a free-flowing stream for public 

enjoyment and benefit. The National River 

combines scenic wilderness, fishing, and 

whitewater rafting. Water-resources information is essential to the wise management of the area. Whitewater boating is 

best when flow in the river is between 

3,000 and 15,000 cubic feet per second. 

The flow is affected by the operation of 

Bluestone Dam on the New River and 

unregulated flow from the Greenbrier 

River. A study by the USGS, in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS), 

found that rapid increases in flow advance 

through the gorge about 2 times faster at 

high flow than at low flow. Whitewater 

users can plan their trips by calling the 

USGS gaging station on the New River at 

Thurmond [(304) 465–0493]. A series of 

beeps reports the river stage.

The USGS computed flood elevations 

for 2-, 25- and 100-year floods on the New 

River and five tributaries within the 

National River boundary. The NPS is using 

the results to design facilities near the rivers to withstand periodic flooding and to 

locate other facilities outside flood-hazard 

areas. The USGS studied the movement of 

a hypothetical spill of a soluble contaminant into the New River. A major railroad 

parallels the River, and several major highways cross it in this reach. The study 

results indicate that a spill could be mitigated in predictable ways by regulating 

discharge from Bluestone Dam.

Streamflow Monitoring

Stream-discharge data are needed to 

forecast floods, to operate reservoirs, to 

prove that regulatory requirements have 

been met, to manage navigable waterways, 

to plan whitewater recreation, and to supplement water-quality monitoring. The 

USGS currently (1996) collects records of 

stream stage or discharge at about 90 sites 

in West Virginia, including 73 sites where 

satellite communication links automatically relay the data to central computers. 

At 65 of the stream sites, telephone links 

also permit more frequent data access 

when needed. Rainfall data are relayed by 

satellite from 40 stream sites and 24 other 

sites. The data are used by the National 

Weather Service to forecast floods and by 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir operators to control floods, to supplement streamflow during droughts, and to 

Figure 2. National Water Quality 

Assessment Program study units in 

West Virginia.
maintain whitewater for seasonal recreation on some rivers. Operators of hydroelectric powerplants use USGS data to 

confirm compliance with minimum-flow 

requirements set by the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission. The WVDEP 

collects water-quality data at many of the 

sites and uses the USGS discharge record 

to supplement their data.

Understanding floods and droughts is 

essential to planning for structures near 

rivers. This understanding is the result of 

statistical analysis of streamflow data that 

are available in the accumulated USGS 

data base. Discharge records at least 10 

years long are available for 126 sites; they 

average 40 years, and the longest record is 

115 years. Records less than 10 years long 

are available for an additional 105 sites. In 

a recent USGS study, in cooperation with 

the WVDEP, a method was developed to 

estimate low-flow characteristics for any 

stream in the State. This information can 

be used to determine the reliability of 

flows at a proposed public water-supply 

intake or how much wastewater could be 

discharged to a stream without damage to 

other water users.

Effects of Navigational Dams 

on Reaeration of the Ohio 

River

New hydroelectric generators are 

planned for several navigation dams on the 

Ohio, the Monongahela, and the Allegheny 

Rivers. Flows through generators would 

reenter the rivers downstream with less turbulence and air contact than do previous 

flows through gates. This change could 

reduce reaeration, which is the movement 

of oxygen from the air into the water. Loss 

of reaeration potential could reduce the 

waste-assimilation capacity of the rivers 

and affect waste-discharge permit limits.

The USGS, in cooperation with the city 

of New Martinsville, is monitoring dissolved oxygen in two navigational pools 

on the Ohio River. The data show that discharge variations and algal growth dynamics in the pools may be as important as the 

characteristics of the dams in controlling 

dissolved oxygen. Continuation of the 

work is expected to lead to new methods of 

measuring the reaeration potential of gated 

navigational structures and to provide the 

data necessary to construct a management 

model of water quality and river discharge.

USGS biologists, oceanographers, and 

geologists are using underwater videography and sidescan sonar to characterize the 

river bottom near the 35 islands of the 365-

mile-long Ohio River Islands National 

Wildlife Refuge. The work, in cooperation 

with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

and the West Virginia Division of Natural 

Resources, will provide a broad assessment of aquatic habitat resources for freshwater mussels and other species. Mussels 

are indicators of the health of the whole 

river. The project supports resource management on the basis of ecosystems rather 

than single species.

Water-Resources Appraisal of 

the Canaan Valley

At an average altitude of 3,200 feet, the 

Canaan Valley is the highest valley of its 

size east of the Rocky Mountains. Its forests and wetlands support many plants and 

animals that are unusual or rare in West 

Virginia and the Eastern United States. The 

Canaan Valley's natural beauty, diverse 

ecology, and many recreational opportunities are enjoyed by seasonal and permanent 

residents and by more than 1.5 million 

annual visitors. To protect this area, the 

Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge 

was established in 1994. The USGS, in 

cooperation with the WVGES, WVDEP, 

and the West Virginia Division of Tourism 

and Parks, has studied the water resources 

of the Canaan Valley since 1990 and has 

begun detailed geologic mapping. The 

USGS recently developed a water-quality 

model for the upper Blackwater River, 

which drains the Valley, that represents the 

effects of physical, chemical, and biological processes on dissolved-oxygen concentrations. The model is useful to the 

WVDEP for analyzing the waste-assimilation capacity of the River as part of its regulation of wastewater discharges.

Rural Water Supply and 

Sanitation

Public water supply and sewage treatment are major factors that affect economic development in many rural areas of 

West Virginia. More than one-half of West 

Virginia's population lives in rural areas, 

commonly in steep-sided, narrow valleys 

adjacent to small streams. The limited 

available flat land combined with dispersed population has made development 

of community water supplies and sewer 

services difficult. Efforts to attract new 

industries to these areas are hampered by 

the lack of available water and sewer 

capacity. Information from USGS waterresource appraisals of several river basins 

and counties provide county leaders an 

overview of local water resources that is 

useful for developing plans for new community water-supply and sanitation facilities.

Mineral Assessments

In response to a congressional request, 

the USGS, in cooperation with WVGES, 

completed an assessment of the State’s 

potential for metallic and industrial minerals. The results of this assessment, which 

were published in a folio of 11 maps, may 

be used to help diversify the State’s mineral industry and thereby augment West 

Virginia’s economic development. Numerous areas where undiscovered deposits of 

zinc, copper, lead, uranium, and barium 

might occur have been delineated by using 

geological, geochemical, and geophysical 

data. This information can be used to 

design more detailed and site-specific follow-up studies by governmental agencies 

and could stimulate and assist exploration 

by the mining industry.

Geologic Mapping

The STATEMAP component of the 

National Cooperative Geologic Mapping 

Program funds important geologic mapping in West Virginia; the Program is in 

cooperation with and is overseen by the 

WVGES. Geologic mapping is focused in 

the Canaan Valley area where competing 

environmental and industrial interests need 

geoscience information to make land-use 

decisions. Results of the mapping Program 

can be used to address problems, such as 

management of active and abandoned coal 

mines, as well as exploration, permitting, 

and environmental regulation.

Topographic Mapping

The use of maps and digital cartographic data is widespread, and requirements for this information are expanding. 

Through the National Mapping Program, 

the USGS strives to ensure the availability 

of map data in graphic and digital forms to 
For More

Information

the general public through timely and 

effective data-collection and revision procedures. 

Among the most popular and versatile 

products of the USGS are its 1:24,000-

scale topographic maps (1 inch on the map 

represents 2,000 feet on the ground). These 

maps depict the natural and cultural features of the landscape, such as lakes and 

streams, highways and railroads, boundaries, and geographic names. West Virginia 

is covered by 493 maps at this scale. These 

maps have long been favorites with the 

general public for outdoor uses, as well as 

with scientists and engineers for technical 

applications. 

The USGS, in cooperation with the 

West Virginia Geographic Information 

System Technical Support Center at West 

Virginia University (WVU), is developing 

a joint program to collect and disseminate 

digital data from the USGS 1:24,000-scale 

topographic maps. The WVGES will benefit from this program by using the contour 

data with geologic information to analyze 

the coal-bearing areas better. The West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue also 

will benefit from the transportation, 

hydrography, culture, and boundary files 

through WVU’s geographic information 

system analysis capabilities. This multiyear project will result in statewide map 

coverage that meets national standards. 

The digital cartographic data are designed 

to provide a foundation for future regional 

and county projects.

The USGS, in cooperation with the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

(USEPA), is using Landsat thematic mapper satellite images to produce a general 

land-cover map for USEPA Region III, 

which includes West Virginia. This project 

is a prototype for generating similar landcover maps for other parts of the United 

States. The Landsat land-cover map incorporates data from other sources, such as 

census population data and digital elevation models. Land-use and land-cover 

information is useful for modeling water 

quality, land and resource management, 

and assessing the health of regional ecosystems.

Earth Science Information

The Earth Science Information Center 

(ESIC) provides information about the 

USGS and its programs, products, and 

technological developments to the public. 

The ESIC in Morgantown was established 

in cooperation with the WVGES. As part of 

the national ESIC network, this office provides information on many earth science 

topics, such as cartography, geography, 

geology, hydrology, remote sensing, aerial 

photography, and land use. The office is 

supported by the USGS with reference 

materials, technical assistance, training and 

outreach activities, products available for 

purchase and access to USGS data bases.

Fish Health and Aquatic 

Ecology

 The USGS Biological Resources 

Division (formerly the National Biological 

Service) maintains regional offices and 

major research facilities in West Virginia. 

The Leetown Science Center's (LSC) 

Fish Health Laboratory develops technologies for the detection and control of infectious diseases of cultured and wild fishes, 

develops bioindicators as measures of wild 

fish population health and early detection 

of adverse environmental conditions, and 

investigates the molecular genetics of fish 

and fish pathogens and the immunological 

response of fish. 

The LSC's Aquatic Ecology Laboratory 

is mapping the distribution of macroinvertebrates and amphibian breeding ponds in 

the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge and is studying the effects of watershed 

and riparian land use upon aquatic habitat 

and fisheries in midsized watersheds. Scientists also are involved in research, including population genetics, reproduction, 

distribution, and the development of statistically reliable sampling techniques, 

directed at restoring depleted freshwater 

mussels.

In collaboration with the West Virginia 

Department of Natural Resources, the LSC 

conducts research and provides assistance 

to resource managers in the protection and 

restoration of watersheds and streams 

impacted by land-use practices and urban 

and industrial pollution, including acid 

mine drainage. 

The West Virginia Cooperative Fish and 

Wildlife Research Unit, which is located at 

the WVU in Morgantown, conducts 

research throughout the State on fisheries, 

water-quality aspects of ecosystems, and 

avian ecology projects.

USGS State representative

11 Dunbar Street

Charleston, WV, 25301

304-347-5130

Fax: 304-347-5133

Email: dc_wv@usgs.gov

Additional earth science

information can be found by

accessing the USGS Home Page

on the World Wide Web at

http://www.usgs.gov/

For more information on

all USGS reports and products

(including maps, images,

and computerized data), call

1-800-USA-MAPS

The USGS provides maps,

reports, and information to help

others meet their needs to manage,

develop, and protect America’s water,

 energy, mineral, biological, and land

resources. We help find the natural

resources needed to build tomorrow

and supply the scientific understanding needed to help minimize or mitigate the effects of natural hazards

and environmental damage caused

by natural and human activities. The

results of our efforts touch the daily

life of almost every American.

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet FS-049-96