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U. S. Department of the Interior

U. S. Geological Survey

National Coal Resource Assessment Non-Proprietary Data:

Location, Stratigraphy, and Coal Quality for Selected Tertiary Coal in the

Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains Region

by

R.M. Flores,1 A.M. Ochs,2 G.D. Stricker,1 M.S. Ellis,1 S.B. Roberts,1 C.W. Keighin,1

E.C. Murphy,3 V.V. Cavaroc Jr.,4 R.C. Johnson,1 E.M. Wilde5

Open-File Report 99-376

1999

 This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S.

Geological Survey editorial standards and stratigraphic nomenclature. Any use

 of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement

 by the U. S. Geological Survey.

 1 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado

 2 Consulting Geologist, Denver, Colorado

 3 North Dakota Geological Survey, Bismarck, North Dakota

 4 North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 5 Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Butte, Montana
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CONTENTS

Software Requirements...............................................................................1

Introduction............................................................................................1

File Organization.....................................................................................2

Location and Stratigraphic Data Spreadsheet Fields.............................................2

Location and Stratigraphy File Statistics..........................................................4

Coal Quality...........................................................................................5

Coal Quality Spreadsheet Fields....................................................................6

Data Contacts..........................................................................................8

References ...............................................................................................9
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SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

The data contained in this Open-File Report were compiled in Microsoft Excel 5.0/95.

In the Location and Stratigraphy File Statistics section of this report a summary of the various

files is included. This may help the user by showing the file size and number of rows within each

file. This may be useful “at a glance” information because some versions of spreadsheet

programs have row limitations.

INTRODUCTION

One of the objectives of the National Coal Resource Assessment in the Northern Rocky

Mountains and Great Plains region was to compile stratigraphic and coal quality-trace-element

data on selected and potentially minable coal beds and zones of the Fort Union Formation

(Paleocene) and equivalent formations. In order to implement this objective, drill-hole

information was compiled from hard-copy and digital files of the: (1) U.S. Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) offices in Casper, Rawlins, and Rock Springs, Wyoming, and in Billings,

Montana, (2) State geological surveys of Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming, (3) Wyoming

Department of Environmental Quality in Cheyenne, (4) U.S. Office of Surface Mining in

Denver, Colorado, (5) U.S. Geological Survey, National Coal Resource Data System (NCRDS)

in Reston, Virginia, (6) U.S. Geological Survey coal publications, (7) university theses, and (8)

mining companies.

Non-proprietary and proprietary data from more than 18,000 oil and gas wells, coal drill

holes, and outcrop measured sections were collected in the Powder River, Williston, Hanna,

Carbon, and Greater Green River (east flank of the Rock Springs uplift) Basins. These data

come from 6,217 locations in the Powder River Basin, 6,033 in the Williston Basin, 1,905 in the

Hanna and Carbon Basins, and 4,052 in the Greater Green River Basin (east flank of the Rock

Springs uplift). Only the non-proprietary drill-hole and measured section data (11,020) are

included in this Open-File Report. These drillholes penetrated the Fort Union Formation in the

Powder River, Williston, and Greater Green River (east flank of Rock Springs uplift) and the

Ferris and Hanna Formations in the Hanna and Carbon Basins.

Data from hard copy were entered directly into the StratiFact database manager or

entered into a spreadsheet format and then imported into the StratiFact database manager. The

database includes information on: (1) drillhole identification, (2) geographic location (latitude,

longtitude, northings, eastings, section, township, and range, elevation, drillhole depth, county,

and 7 1⁄2 minute quadrangle name where available), (3) data source or operator’s name, (4)
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confidentiality (i.e. proprietary or non-proprietary) (5) stratigraphic measurements (depth in feet

to various lithologic contacts), (6) lithologies (rock types and lithologic modifiers (i.e.

carbonaceous shale), (7) stratigraphic nomenclature (i.e. formation names and coal zone names).

The data from the drill holes were then correlated using StratiFact. All data (proprietary and nonproprietary) from this investigation are archived in the USGS National Coal Resource Data

System (NCRDS). In this Open-File Report geographic (location) and stratigraphic output from

StratiFact were recombined through use of other relational database programs (Access) and

output into Excel formats.

FILE ORGANIZATION

 This CD-ROM includes six folders that contain the data for the assessed coals in the

Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. The folders are named Carbon (Carbon Basin),

Green (Green River Basin), Hanna (Hanna Basin), Powder (Powder River Basin),

Willist (Williston Basin), and Coalqual (Coal Quality). Each folder contains an Excel

spreadsheet(s) file(s), and except for Coalqual, a Word file and a .pdf file containing a

composite stratigraphic column showing the assessed coal within the region and (in bold)

the particular coal contained within that folder.

LOCATION AND STRATIGRAPHIC SPREADSHEET FIELDS

There are 15 to 20 columnar fields containing the location and stratigraphic data within

the spreadsheets. A brief description of these fields follows.

Point ID contains the location point identifier that was used in the stratigraphic relational

database. This may be expressed as an alpha numeric or numeric.

Data Source is the source of the drill hole information. This may be the lease operator, data

collector, or a report. An alpha numeric or numeric point identifier, often in parentheses,

is commonly included within this field and denotes the point ID from the original report.

Acronyms are commonly used to denote mining and petroleum companies such as

CCCO, BNI, SUNOCO, UREX, and some government agencies such as USGS, CDC

(Conservation Division of the USGS), MBMG (Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology).

This data was most commonly derived from geophysical log headers and may have been

abbreviated to accommodate field limitations within some programs.

Elevation is measured in feet above sea level and is expressed to one decimal place.

Depth is the depth of the drill hole in feet, or the depth to which the interval was described

expressed to one decimal place.
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Latitude is expressed in decimal degrees to five decimal places.

Longitude is expressed in negative decimal degrees to five decimal places.

UTM Northing is the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate with values carried to two

decimal places.

UTM Easting is the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate with values carried to two

decimal places.

Township is expressed as north or south depending upon the local survey. This information is

not available for all locations.

Range is expressed as east or west depending upon the local survey. This information is not

available for all locations.

Section is expressed as a number from 1 to 36. This information is not available for all locations.

7 1⁄2 Minute Quadrangle is the name of the U. S. Geological Survey map that contains the

location of the drill hole. This data is not available for all locations.

County is shown if that information is available.

State is shown for all locations.

Quarter Section Location is the location within the section and is not available for all locations.

Lithology Top is the depth in feet from the surface to the top of the lithology listed for that

interval and is expressed to two decimal places.

Lithology Bottom is the depth in feet from the surface to the bottom of the lithology listed for

that interval and is expressed to two decimal places.

Lithology is the descriptive term used by the data collector for the rock in the interval. Rock is

the generic term used by some data collectors to represent undifferentiated sedimentary

rock types other than coal.

Lithology Modifier is the descriptive term provided by data collectors to more specifically

describe the rocks.

Zone includes the name of the formation and member, as recognized by the U. S. Geological

Survey, and coal zone name, which is informal and often reflects local and mining

terminology.

LOCATION AND STRATIGRAPHY FILE STATISTICS
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BASIN FILE NAME FILE SIZE ROWS

IN FILE

NUMBER OF

NONPROPRIETARY

DATA POINTS

Carbon

Basin J107.xls (Excel File) 569.0 KB 1,973 51

Green

River

Basin Deadman.xls (Excel File) 901.0 KB 2,525 148

Hanna

Basin Ferris50.xls (Excel File) 41.0 KB 91 8

Ferris65.xls (Excel File) 60.5 KB 160 17

Hanna77.xls (Excel File) 163.0 KB 527 21

Hanna78.xls (Excel File) 535.0 KB 1,873 109

Hanna79.xls (Excel File) 473.0 KB 1,675 108

Hanna81.xls (Excel File) 348.0 KB 1,157 43

Williston

Basin Beulah.xls (Excel File) 3.04 MB 14,125 2,116

Hagel.xls (Excel File) 8.81 MB 19,947 2,133

Hansen.xls (Excel File) 1.31 MB 6,347 306

Harmon.xls (Excel File) 1.66 MB 8,122 380
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BASIN FILE NAME FILE SIZE ROWS

IN FILE

NUMBER OF

NONPROPRIETARY

DATA POINTS

Powder

River

Basin Wyodak1.xls (Excel File) 4.56 MB 14,155 815

Wyodak2.xls (Excel File) 5.22 MB 15,716 736

Wyodak3.xls (Excel File) 3.91 MB 13,140 273

Wyodak4.xls (Excel File) 4.12 MB 14,096 697

Wyodak5.xls (Excel File) 2.53 MB 7,116 389

Wyodak6.xls (Excel File) 4.71 MB 14,957 935

Wyodak7.xls (Excel File) 4.57 MB 14,063 774

Wyodak8.xls (Excel File) 4.33 MB 13,545 845

Knobloch.xls (Excel File) 1.20 MB 4,222 153

Rosebud.xls (Excel File) 506.0 KB 1,722 187

COAL QUALITY DATA

Another task of the coal resource assessment in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Great

Plains region is to collect coal quality and trace-element geochemical data from the selected Fort

Union and equivalent coal beds and coal zones in the Powder River, Williston, Hanna, Carbon,

and Greater Green River (east flank of Rock Springs uplift) Basins. These coal-bed and coalzone properties were directly related to a drill hole or correlated to the nearest drill hole. Thus,

both stratigraphic and coal quality-trace element properties are linked in the databases by a

unique Point ID. The data sources for coal quality are: 1) the unpublished, but available, U.S.

Geological Survey coal quality database USCHEM, February, 1992, and 2) Bragg and others

(1994). Proprietary data were used to calculate range (minimum and maximum value) and

arithmetic means for coal quality in the various basins; these ranges and means are published in

U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1625-A, but not in this report. Coal quality data

include moisture; ash yield; total sulfur; calorific value; pounds of sulfur dioxide per million Btu;

moist, mineral-matter-free Btu; and elements of environmental concern.
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The 12 trace elements of environment concern include antimony, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium,

chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, and uranium.

COAL QUALITY SPREADSHEET FIELDS

The coal quality spreadsheet file is organized into 24 columnar fields that contain

location and quality information.

Point ID contains the unique sample identifier that was used in the coal quality database. This

Point ID identifier is the same Point ID used in the stratigraphic relational database

whenever the locations are the same. When locations are different or whenever

stratigraphic data are missing, no corresponding Point ID will be found in the

stratigraphic database.

Basin is the assessed sedimentary basin from which the coal sample was collected.

Coalfield is the coalfield from which the coal sample was collected. These data are not available

for all samples.

Assessment unit is the coal bed or zone assessed. It may have either an informal name or a

published coal bed or zone name which often reflects local and mining terminologies.

Latitude is the latitude coordinate for point source location of coal sample in decimal degrees.

All samples are in the Northern Hemisphere (north is implied, not expressed).

Longitude is the longitude coordinate for point source location of the coal sample in negative

decimal degrees. All samples are in the Western Hemisphere (west is indicated by a

negative value).

Moisture is the moisture value (as-received basis) in percent to two decimal places as

determined by ASTM method D3173-93 (ASTM, 1994c).

Ash yield is the ash value in percent to two decimal places as determined by ASTM method

D3174-93 (ash obtained at 750 degrees C) (ASTM, 1994d).

Total sulfur is the total sulfur value in percent to two decimal places as determined by ASTM

method D3177-89 (ASTM, 1994e).

Calorific value is the gross calorific value of the coal sample expressed in British thermal units

per pound (Btu/lb) as determined by ASTM method D2015-94 (ASTM, 1994b).
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Pounds of sulfur dioxide per million Btu (lb SO2/MMBtu) is a calculated value to two

decimal places used in measuring sulfur emissions from coal fired power plants.

Calculation is according to the following formula:

lb SO2/MMBtu = (2,000,000 x percent sulfur)÷Btu

Moist, mineral-matter-free Btu (MMMfBtu) is a calculated value used in conjunction with

other variables to determine apparent rank. Calculation follows ASTM method D388-

92a (ASTM, 1994a, p. 171) and is according the following formula:

MMMfBtu = 100 x (Btu − 50 x percent sulfur) ÷ (100 − (1.08 x ash yield + 0.55 x

 percent sulfur))

Antimony is the antimony (Sb) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on wholecoal and remnant moisture basis.

Arsenic is the arsenic (As) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on whole-coal

and remnant moisture basis.

Beryllium is the beryllium (Be) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on wholecoal and remnant moisture basis.

Cadmium is the cadmium (Cd) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on wholecoal and remnant moisture basis.

Chromium is the chromium (Cr) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on wholecoal and remnant moisture basis.

Cobalt is the cobalt (Co) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on whole-coal and

remnant moisture basis.

Lead is the lead (Pb) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on whole-coal and

remnant moisture basis.

Manganese is the manganese (Mn) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on

whole-coal and remnant moisture basis.

Mercury is the mercury (Hg) value to three decimal places in parts-per-million and on wholecoal and remnant moisture basis.

Nickel is the nickel (Ni) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on whole-coal and

remnant moisture basis.

Selenium is the selenium (Se) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on wholecoal and remnant moisture basis.
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Uranium is the uranium (U) value to two decimal places in parts-per-million and on whole-coal

and remnant moisture basis.

Data Contacts

For further information please contact:

Dr. Romeo M. Flores (Regional Stratigraphy)

U.S. Geological Survey

Energy Resources Team

P. O. Box 25046, DFC, MS 939

Lakewood, Colorado 80225

(303) 236-7774

rflores@usgs.gov

Dr. Gary D. Stricker (USCHEM)

U.S. Geological Survey

Energy Resources Team

P.O. Box 25046, DFC, MS 939

Lakewood, Colorado 80225

(303) 236-7763

gstricker@usgs.gov

M. Devereux Carter (National Coal Resouce Data System)

U.S. Geological Survey

956 National Center

Reston, Virginia 20192

(703) 648-6413

mdcarter@usgs.gov
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REFERENCES

American Society for Testing and Materials, 1994a, Annual book of ASTM Standards, Section

5, Petroleum products, lubricants and fossil fuels, vol. 05.05 Gaseous fuels; coal and

coke; section D388-92a; Standard Classification of Coal by Rank: American Society for

Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, p. 168-171.

 1994b, Annual book of ASTM Standards, Section 5, Petroleum products, lubricants and

fossil fuels, vol. 05.05 Gaseous fuels; coal and coke; section D2015-94; Standard test

method for gross calorific value of coal and coke by the adiabatic bomb calorimeter:

American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, p. 293-294.

 1994c, Annual book of ASTM Standards, Section 5, Petroleum products, lubricants and

fossil fuels, vol. 05.05 Gaseous fuels; coal and coke; section D3173-93; Standard test

method for moisture in the analysis sample of coal and coke: American Society for

Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, p. 293-294.

 1994d, Annual book of ASTM Standards, Section 5, Petroleum products, lubricants and

fossil fuels, vol. 05.05 Gaseous fuels; coal and coke; section D3174-93; Standard test

method for ash in the analysis sample of coal and coke: American Society for Testing and

Materials, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, p. 295-298.

 1994e, Annual book of ASTM Standards, Section 5, Petroleum products, lubricants and

fossil fuels, vol. 05.05 Gaseous fuels; coal and coke; section D3177-89; Standard test

method for total sulfur in the analysis sample of coal and coke: American Society for

Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, p. 305-308.

Berryhill, H.L., Jr., Brown, A., Brown, D.M., Taylor, D.A., 1950, Coal Resources of Wyoming:

U.S. Geological Survey Circular 81.

Bragg, L.J., Oman, J.K., Tewalt, S.J., Oman, C.L., Rega, N.H., Washington, P.M., and

Finkleman, R.B, 1994, U.S. Geological Survey Coal Quality (Coalqual) Database:

Version 1.3: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-205, CD-ROM.
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Ellis, M.S., Gunther, G.L., Flores, R.M., Ochs, A.M., Stricker, G.D., Roberts, S.B., Taber, T.T.,

Bader, L. R., and Schuenemeyer, J.H., 1999, Preliminary report on coal resources of the

Wyodak-Anderson coal zone, Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana: U.S.

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Glass, G.B., 1978, Coal analyses and lithologic descriptions of five core holes

Drilled in the Carbon Basin of south-central Wyoming: Geological Survey of

Wyoming Report of Investigations No. 16, 97p.

Glass, G.B., Roberts, J.T., 1979, Structure, coal thickness, and shallow overburden

For the Carbon No. 6, Carbon No. 5, and Johnson coal beds, in the Carbon mining

District, Hanna Coal Field, southcentral Wyoming: Wyoming Geological Survey OpenFile Report 79-2.

Glass, G.B., Roberts, J.T., 1979, Structure, coal thickness, and shallow overburden for

Coal bed Nos. 109, 105, Carbon No. 4, and Johnson Rider in the Carbon mining district,

Hanna Coal Field, southcentral Wyoming: Wyoming Geological Survey Open-File

Report 79-3.

Glass, G.B., Roberts, J.T., 1979, Structure, coal thickness, and shallow overburden for the Finch

coal bed in the Carbon mining district, Hanna Coal Field, southcentral

Wyoming: Wyoming Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-4.

Hansen, D.E., Schug, D.L., 1979, Geophysical and lithologic logs of 39 test holes

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Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1701.

Harksen, J.C., 1978, Geophysical and Lithologic logs for 1977 coal drilling in Wibaux County,

Montana, and Golden Valley County, North Dakota: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File

Report 78-251.

Hettinger, R.D., 1978, Lithologic and geophysical logs of 24 coal test holes drilled during 1977

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Matson, R.E., 1971, Strippable coal in the Moorhead coal field, Montana: Montana Bureau of

Mines and Geology Bulletin 83, 18 pages with plates.

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southeastern Montana: Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 91, 135 pages

with plates.

Maywood, P.S., 1987, Stratigraphic model of the Southern portion of the Jim

Bridger coal field, Sweetwater County, Wyoming: Portland, Oregon,

Portland State University, M.S. thesis, 128 p.

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resources of the northeastern part of the Crow Indian Reservation, Big Horn County,

Montana: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1796, scale

1:24,000.

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