DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MISCELLANEOUS FIELD STUDIES UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MAP MF-1271-E PAMPHLET MINERAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF THE CHEAT MOUNTAIN ROADLESS AREA, RANDOLPH COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA By Kenneth J. Englund and Wayne R. Sigleo, U.S. Geological Survey and Paul T. Behum and Richard W. Hammack, U.S. Bureau of Mines 1983 Studies Related To Wilderness Under the provisions of the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577, September 3, 1964) and related acts, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines have been conducting mineral surveys of wilderness and primitive areas. Areas officially designated as "wilderness," "wild," or "canoe" when the act was passed were incorporated into the National Wilderness Preservation System, and some of them are presently being studied. The act provided that areas under consideration for wilderness designation should be studied for suitability for incorporation into the Wilderness System. The mineral surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies. The act directs that the results of such surveys are to be made available to the public and be submitted to the President and the Congress. This report discusses the results of a mineral survey of the Cheat Mountain Roadless Area, Monongahela National Forest, Randolph County, West Virginia. The area was classified as a further planning area during the Second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE n) by the U.S. Forest Service, January 1979. MINERAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL SUMMARY STATEMENT The Cheat Mountain Roadless Area contains approximately 7,720 acres in the Monongahela National Forest, Randolph County, W. Va. All the surface rights are owned by the U.S. Government, but mineral rights of 65 percent of the area remain in private ownership. The area is in the Allegheny Mountain section of the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province and is situated at the eastern edge of the Appalachian coal region. Sandstone and shale of Late Devonian age and limestone, sandstone, and shale of Mississippian age are exposed on the west slope of Cheat Mountain. Rocks of Late Mississippian age also crop out locally along Shavers Fork at the east edge of the area. Coal-bearing rocks of Pennsylvanian age underlie a broad plateau formed by the North Potomac syncline. Coal is the most important mineral resource in the Cheat Mountain Roadless Area. The coal is tentatively ranked as medium- to high-volatile A bituminous and, like coal of this rank in nearby mining areas, is primarily of coking quality; most of the raw coal is suitable for use as low-sulfur steam coal. Coal resources are estimated to total 44.5 million short tons, of which 11.5 million short tons are included in the reserve base. Actual reserves recoverable by underground methods could not be determined due to insufficient data concerning the possible percent recovery. However, if a 50 percent recovery factor is used, 5.74 million short tons may be recovered and, at 60 percent, 6.88 million short tons may be recovered. The Cheat Mountain Roadless Area has low potential for mineral resources including limestone, shale, clay and sandstone. The limestone is suitable for road metal, railroad ballast, construction aggregate, and high-calcium limestone uses. Clay and shale in beds that were tested could be used for building brick, clay tile, and other structural-clay products. Some sandstone may be suitable for concrete aggregate, road-base aggregate, rough building stone, and various special-purpose sands. Available information suggests a low potential for oil and gas resources in the Cheat Mountain Roadless Area. No evidence of a potential for the occurrence of metallic mineral resources potential was found in the area. INTRODUCTION east, the area can be reached via U.S. 33 and by a paved country road that extends from Alpena, W. Va., The Cheat Mountain Roadless Area is in the to the village of Bemis at the northeastern corner. Greenbrier Ranger District of the Monogahela Unimproved Forest Service roads, abandoned logging National Forest, east-central West Virginia. It is railroad grades, and primitive trails provide access by located in Randolph County, about 10 mi southeast of foot or horseback into the interior of the study area. Elkins, W. Va., and is accessible from there via U.S. Physiographically, the Cheat Mountain Roadless 219-250 to Beverly, W. Va., and then southeastward Area is in the Allegheny Mountain section of the along an improved country road (fig. 1). From the Appalachian Plateaus province and is situated at the Figure 1. Index map showing location of Cheat Mountain Roadless Area. eastern edge of the Appalachian coal region. Cheat 1980. This study included the measurement of Mountain, a northeast-trending linear ridge, is stratigraphic sections and coal beds using altimetry to bordered on the west by the Right Fork of Files Creek determine altitudes of stratigraphic units, mines, and on the east by Shavers Fork and its tributaries. prospects, and exploratory drill holes, and tracing Most of the area occupies an elevated plateau capped mappable units in and adjacent to the area. A. E. by resistant sandstone and conglomerate. Altitudes Grosz, assisted by J. O. Olson, J. S. West, and N. A. range from about 2,320 ft on Lime Kiln Run to more Wrights, conducted a geochemical survey in May than 3.900 ft on Cheat Mountain. The topography 1980. A total of 65 bulk samples of stream sediments ranges from relatively flat in the uplands to very steep and 34 samples of bedrock were collected. These in the canyons along tributaries of Shavers Fork. The samples were analyzed semi-quantitatively for 31 area is heavily forested with vegetation varying from elements, including elements having the greatest mixed hardwoods on the western slope of Cheat economic importance, in USGS Laboratories, Denver, Mountain to thickets of conifers in the uplands. Colorado (Grosz and Cooley, 1981). Hemlocks are sparsely interspersed and red spruce, the dominant tree at higher elevations prior to logging in Acknowledgm ents the mid 1920's, is again reforesting upland areas. Rhododendron and laurel flourish in moist, protected The authors gratefully acknowledge the areas along drainage courses and in coves. cooperation of landowners and local residents who supplied coal information and permitted access to Previous Investigations their properties for the examination of coal mines and prospects. Appreciation is also extended to Forest The first major geologic investigation of the Service personnel in the Area Supervisor's office, coal resources in the Cheat Mountain coal field was Elkins, W. Va. and to personnel of the Mower Lumber made by Reger (1928). The study was followed by a Company who provided information concerning comprehensive county report of the West Virginia exploratory drill holes and other coal prospects. A. H. Geological Survey that described the distribution, Randall, III, P. L. Foose, and N. K. Teaford, USGS, and quantity, and quality of coal resources in Randolph L. E. Harris, USBM, assisted in report preparation. County (Reger, 1931). These reports show the outcrops of major coal beds and the locations of numerous mines, prospects, and exploratory drill holes SURFACE- AND MINERAL-RIGHTS OWNERSHIP on l:62,500-scale maps. Brief accounts of prospecting in and near the Cheat Mountain Roadless Area comprises area appear in a short report by Maxwell (1931) and an portions of seven large surface land tracts acquired in unpublished U.S. Forest Service report (1975). Englund 1936 under the authority of the Weeks Act of 1911. (1969) and Englund and other (1980) have described the The two largest tracts were purchased from West geology and mineral resources of the Roaring Creek Virginia Pulp and Paper Company; one 3,181-acre tract area and the Dolly Sods Wilderness in two nearby coal lies almost entirely within the proposed boundary along basins (fig. 1). The geology and mineral resources of the eastern edge, part of the second tract is near the the Otter Creek Wilderness, located along the North southern boundary (fig. 2). In 1936, two large tracts of Potomac sync line about 9 mi to the north, were 992 and 3,068 acres were purchased from Davis Coal described by Warlow and others (1981), and Behum and Land Company. A fifth tract, the 900-acre D. E. Lutz Mory (1981). tract, encompasses most of the study area on the west slope of Cheat Mountain. Two smaller tracts of about Present Investigations 292 acres and 480 acres of land were acquired from the L. W. McQuain and Flora A. Rose estates. U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) field Mineral rights were retained by the Davis Coal reconnaissance was conducted by P. T. Behum and R. Land Company on the 992-acre tract in the W. Hammack in the spring of 1979. Forty-nine southeastern portion of the area, but the 3,068-acre channel, chip, and grab samples of rock and coal were Davis Coal Land Company tract was acquired "fee collected from within or near the area, and all were simple," thereby passing these mineral rights into U.S. analyzed spectrographically for 40 elements by the Government ownership in 1936. In the two West USBM Reno Research Center, Reno, Nev. In addition, Virginia Pulp and Paper Company tracts, the mineral atomic absorption, radiometric, and chemical analyses, rights were retained until August 16, 1975. However, as well as petrographic studies, were performed on prior to this expiration data, a 5-year moratorium on selected samples. Clay and shale samples were mining in the Shavers Fork drainage was enacted evaluated for ceramic properties and lightweight- beginning September 2, 1973. When this moratorium aggregate potential by the USBM Tuscaloosa expired September 2, 1978, Mower Lumber Company, Metallurgy Research Center, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Coal purchaser of West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company's samples were analyzed by the U.S.