U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet 018-99

July 1999

Kentucky

Black Bear Reintroduction at Big

South Fork

Black bears once were present in and

around the Big South Fork National

River and Recreation Area; however,

none remained by the turn of the

century. The U.S. Geological Survey

(USGS) has embarked on a project to

reintroduce black bears into this area

along the Tennessee-Kentucky border.

In 1996 and 1997, USGS researchers

evaluated the effectiveness of different methods for transplanting bears

from the Great Smoky Mountain

National Park. Eight females and

their cubs were removed from winter

dens and placed in preselected den

sites in Big South Fork. A second set

of females and cubs was captured in

the summer and released after spending 2 weeks in on-site acclimation

pens. Most of the winter transfers

resulted in bears establishing home

ranges in the new location; summer

transfers were less successful. In this

group, the bears’ powerful homing

instincts led several individual bears

to attempt returning to the Smokies,

placing them at risk and necessitating

recapture. The reintroduction pro- gram will continue for 3 years, using

the more biologically feasible and

cost-effective winter-transfer technique, until a viable population has

been established at Big South Fork.

Urban Data-Collection Networks

in Kentucky

The USGS, in cooperation with

governmental agencies and sanitation

districts in three metropolitan areas in

Kentucky—Louisville and Jefferson

County; Lexington and Fayette

County; and the Northern Kentucky

counties of Kenton, Campbell, and

Boone—has initiated stream-monitoring programs to obtain hydrologic

and water-quality information needed

to manage local water resources.

Urbanization in these three metropolitan areas is continuing at a steady

rate. As land within a watershed is

developed, there is, in general, a

decrease in the amount of area for the

infiltration of precipitation, thus

increasing the potential for flooding.

Possible consequences include high

peak streamflows that occur more

often than they might have previously

and an increase in the types and

amounts of pollutants being transported to the streams.

The objectives of these cooperative

stream-monitoring programs are to

collect the necessary data, characterize the hydrology and water-quality

conditions of streams, assess the

effects of point and nonpoint sources

of contaminants on streamwater

quality, and develop tools needed to

formulate strategies for the wise

management of the region’s water

resources. In Jefferson County, the

USGS has collaborated with the

Louisville and Jefferson County

Metropolitan Sewer District to collect

rainfall intensity and duration data

and continuous streamflow data

within selected watersheds to calibrate hydrologic models and verify

current model input values. In

Lexington, the USGS, in cooperation

with the Lexington-Fayette Urban

County Government, has established

a network of streamgaging stations;

data collected from these stations will

be used to develop watershed models.

The stations also serve as a floodmonitoring network for the Lexington

Bear cubs and mothers were

removed from winter dens at Great

Smoky Mountains National Park and

transported as far as 4 miles through

the backcountry to vehicles that

would take them to Big South Fork

National River and Recreation Area,

75 miles away.

Adult female bears translocated

during winter with newborn cubs had

significantly higher survival rates and

site fidelity than did females released

in summer without cubs.
science for a changing world

urban area. The USGS, in cooperation with Sanitation District Number

One of Northern Kentucky, has

installed four streamgaging stations.

Like the networks in Louisville and

Lexington, this system of stations will

collect the necessary data to support

hydrologic and water-quality model

calibration and verification requirements.

Environmental Impacts of

Coal Use

According to the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, coal-burning

utilities are a major manmade source

of mercury in our environment. In

addition, the health impacts of

arsenic, including arsenic derived

from coal combustion, have recently

attracted worldwide attention from

the biomedical, environmental, and

geoscience communities. The USGS

Energy Resources Program has been

collaborating with State and Federal

agencies, universities, and industry to

increase the understanding of the

distribution of these elements in coal,

their behavior during coal cleaning

and combustion, and their environmental and health impacts. Future

research is intended to address the reemission into the environment of

toxic elements captured on coal

combustion products such as flue-gas

desulfurization (FGD) sludge. Among

the current research activities is a

collaborative project with the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) to

conduct detailed chemical and

mineralogical characterization of the

feed coal and coal-combustion

products (fly ash, bottom ash, and

FGD sludge) at a large Kentucky

power plant.

FGD is a process that uses limestone,

lime, and other industrial minerals to

control sulfur dioxide emissions from

coal-burning power plants and other

facilities. Scientists of the USGS

Mineral Resources Program are

initiating work to identify and characterize limestone resources in the Ohio

River Valley that are suitable for

FGD. Specific activities include

determining what characteristics of

limestone are most suitable for FGD

and the geologic controls necessary to

produce this type of limestone,

upgrading databases on existing

quarry operations, and determining

limestone demand by FGD units to

meet clean-air standards for the year

2000.

Partnerships of Geospatial Data

and Mapping

The USGS has developed a partnership with the U.S. Department of

Agriculture and the Kentucky Office

of Geographic Information Systems

(KYOGIS) to build statewide coverage of digital orthophoto quarter

quadrangles (DOQQ’s digital, 1-

meter, 1:12,000, georectified, blackand-white images produced from

National Aerial Photography Program

photos). These digital images are the

cornerstone of the Kentucky Statewide Digital Basemap initiative, and

they are used as the primary groundtruth source for features on the

Earth’s surface.

An additional partnership supporting

the Kentucky Statewide Digital

Basemap has been developed between the USGS and the KYOGIS to

provide statewide high-resolution

coverage of surface-water features.

By using geographic information

system (GIS) technology, scientists,

planners, and government agencies

can apply these data to analysis,

modeling, forecasting, and problem

solving. Issues that may be addressed

using GIS technology include environmental concerns, hazard and

natural disaster mitigation, and

information concerning water as a

critical resource.

The Kentucky Statewide Digital

Basemap also includes other digitaldata themes, such as the digital raster

graphics (scanned USGS 7.5-inch

quad sheets), digital elevation models, transportation, political boundaries, and geodesy. These datasets are

produced using standards compatible

with those of the Federal Geographic

Data Committee (FGDC). Kentucky

is a cooperating partner with the

FGDC in building the National

Spatial Data Infrastructure. As a

consistent, reliable basemap built to

known and accepted standards, the

Kentucky Statewide Digital Basemap

is available to all agencies to use for

development of their programmatic

applications.

As part of the National Cooperative

Geologic Mapping Act of 1992, the

STATEMAP Program includes a

partnership between the KGS and the

USGS to digitize surface geologic

information from printed geologic

maps. The resulting computer database will be used for spatial analysis

of geologic features.

Enhancement of Endangered

Mussels in Horse Lick Creek

Freshwater mussel populations in the

United States have declined precipitously during this century. Horse Lick

Creek, in the Upper Cumberland

River drainage basin, is one of the

DOQQ image of Churchill Downs in

Louisville.
Kentucky

few remaining streams containing

populations of two federally endangered species, the littlewing pearly

mussel and the Cumberland bean

pearly mussel. The creek also provides a home to four other species of

mussel and two species of fish that

are considered by the Kentucky State

Nature Preserves Commission to be

threatened or endangered. Scientists

at the Tennessee Cooperative Fishery

Research Unit of the USGS in

Cookeville, Tenn., have been studying

the mussels and fishes of Horse Lick

Creek since 1987. The status, distribution, and microhabitat preferences

of the two federally listed species and

several of the State-listed species

have been documented. USGS

biologists also have studied the

habitat requirements of bottom fishes

that serve as hosts for the larval

stages of the endangered mussels.

The information gathered has helped

guide a major effort by the U.S.

Forest Service and the Nature Conservancy to preserve and restore the

Horse Lick Creek ecosystem. Ongoing USGS studies are directed at

developing techniques to culture the

endangered mussels in order to

enhance local populations. If these

efforts are successful, Horse Lick

Creek could become a donor source

for restoring mussel populations in

other streams.

Ground-Water Investigations at

Fort Knox

In 1996, the USGS began two investigations in cooperation with the U.S.

Army Installation at Fort Knox and

with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District, to provide

needed hydrogeologic information

and data for the development of

wellhead and springhead protection

plans. State of Kentucky regulations

require that water suppliers develop

such plans for the protection of public

drinking-water sources. At Fort Knox,

water managers depend on two

sources for their water supplies—the

well field in the alluvial aquifer near

West Point, Ky., and McCraken

Springs in Meade County, Ky.

The alluvial aquifer near West Point

is an important water resource,

supplying drinking water not only for

Fort Knox, but also for Hardin

County Water District Number One

and the town of West Point. The

supply wells for these three systems

comprise one of the largest well fields

in Kentucky. To provide regional

water managers and environmental

coordinators the data needed to meet

the state regulations, the USGS

reviewed published geologic and

hydrologic literature pertinent to the

area, inventoried and monitored a

network of ground-water observation

wells, compiled area ground-water

pumpage data, conducted a series of

aquifer tests, and developed a groundwater-flow model to test hydrogeologic concepts of the flow system.

This investigation is intended to

provide managers with the information and tools needed to understand

the effects of current and future

demands on the area’s water resources.

At McCraken Springs, the public

water supply is potentially vulnerable

to natural and induced stresses on the

karst aquifer, which is the source of

water for the Springs, and to degradation by contaminants introduced by

stormwater entering sinkholes and a

large sinking stream in the Springs

recharge area. As part of the USGS

investigation, ground-water-tracer

tests and potentiometric-surface maps

were used to identify ground-water

basins drained by the major perennial

springs and to delineate the approximate boundaries of the recharge area

for McCraken Springs. Additional

hydrologic data were collected to

determine discharge and recharge

characteristics of the Springs.

Coal Assessment

The USGS, in cooperation with the

KGS, is conducting studies to provide

to Federal, State, and local planners

information about the distribution and

quality of coal, indications of where

and when coal reserves will be

depleted, and information about how

communities, counties, and the State

will be affected by the loss of the coal

industry. In addition, the USGS and

KGS are modeling and developing

predictions of coal-quality variations.

The USGS, in cooperation with the

KGS, has digitally modeled some of

the most productive coalbeds in the

Appalachian and Illinois Basins. Five

coalbeds (Fire Clay, Pond Creek,

Springfield, Herrin, and Baker/

Danville) have been modeled. For

each coalbed, the original and remaining resources have been estimated, and stratigraphic and geochemical databases and digital maps

of the coalbed have been prepared.

Potentially hazardous geochemical

materials (such as arsenic, mercury,

and lead) and ash, sulfur, and calorific

values also are being mapped.

The USGS and 13 cooperating State

geological survey offices have

developed a systematic national

effort, the Coal Availability/Recoverability Studies, to collect, analyze,

and depict data that characterize the

A USGS employee injecting dye into a

sinking stream at McCraken Springs.
Printed on recycled paper

USGS office locations USGS State Representative

9818 Bluegrass Parkway

Louisville, KY 40299

(502) 493-1900

FAX (502) 493-1909

USGS Home Page

http://www.usgs.gov

Reports and products

1-888-ASK-USGS

The USGS has 48

employees in Kentucky

Louisville

Paducah Williamsburg

relation between restrictions to

mining and the potential for development of the Nation’s coal resources.

The USGS and KGS scientists have

collaborated since 1988 to identify

restrictions to mining and to determine potential economically recoverable coal. The remaining unrestricted

coal in nine study areas in eastern

Kentucky that is economically

recoverable averages about 8 percent

of the original coal in the ground.

Initial studies in western Kentucky

indicate that there are even smaller

amounts of economically recoverable

coal in that area.

The USGS, in cooperation with the

KGS and the University of Kentucky

(Center for Applied Energy Research), is examining coalbeds to

document the processes that control

coalbed quality. Project personnel do

this by examining variations in the

organic and inorganic materials of

coalbeds. One of the inorganic

elements in coal is arsenic. Analyses

of arsenic in selected Fire Clay

coalbed samples show that arsenic

often is present in large pyrite grains.

Because the grains are large, they will

be removed during coal cleaning, and

arsenic will not be released during

coal combustion. If the coal-cleaning

waste is placed in slurry or spoils

ponds, however, it does have the

potential to leach arsenic into the

environment through the action of the

pond water on the pyrite.

Hydrocarbon Exploration in the

Appalachian Basin

Most of eastern Kentucky and parts

of neighboring States are located in a

relatively deep geologic basin in the

central and southern Appalachians.

The basin has not been tested extensively for hydrocarbons, although it

lies within the range of temperatures

of oil preservation and is west of

potential shale source rocks in the

Sevier/Paperville Basin. The USGS is

investigating the thermal history of

the region to estimate the time of

fluid generation and migration from

the Sevier/Paperville Basin to reservoirs and the geochemistry of potential source rocks. Also, the USGS is

verifying the potential oil and gas

possibilities. The goal of the project

is to improve the assessment of

potential hydrocarbon resources in

the deeper, generally unexplored parts

of the central Appalachian Basin.

The Appalachian Basin coal region.

OH

PA

WV

MD

TN NC

KY

GA

AL

VA

200 mi.

200 km.

EXPLANATION

Low-volatile bituminous coal

Medium- and high-volatile

bituminous coal