Evaluation of Airborne Thermal Infrared Imagery for Locating Mine Drainage Sites in the Lower Kettle Creek and Cooks Run Basins, Pennsylvania, USA

Garret A. Veloski, NETL, US DOE, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, veloski@netl.doe.gov

James I Sams III, USGS, Water Resources Discipline, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, jisams@usgs.gov

High-resolution (1 m2) airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imagery data were collected over 90.6 km2 (35 mi2) of remote and rugged terrain in the Kettle Creek and Cooks Run Basins, tributaries of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in north-central Pennsylvania in a single night in late March 2002. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of TIR data for identifying sources of acid mine drainage (AMD) associated with abandoned coal mines. Very little detailed mine mapping information was available for the study area, particularly on the source locations of AMD sites. Coal mining from the late 1800s resulted in many AMD sources from abandoned coal mines in the Lower Kettle Creek and Cooks Run Basin. Potential AMD sources were extracted from airborne TIR data employing custom image processing algorithms and GIS data analysis. Based on field reconnaissance of 103 TIR anomalies, 53 sites (51%) were classified as AMD. The AMD sources had low pH (<4) and elevated concentrations of iron and aluminum. Of the 53 sites, approximately 26 sites could be correlated with previously documented AMD sites based on available data provided by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Twenty-seven mine discharges identified in the TIR data were previously un-documented and therefore represented a new site. This paper presents a summary of (1) the procedures used to process the TIR data and extract potential mine drainage sites; (2) methods used for field reconnaissance and verification of TIR data; (3) a brief summary of water-quality data; and (4) a discussion of factors affecting the TIR data.

Key words: Thermal Infrared Imagery, Acid Mine Drainage, Abandoned Mine Lands