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GIS/GPS Approach For The Abondoned Mine Inventory Of The
Monongahela National Forest Using Space Borne And Aerial
Images For Basemap Selection
John
R. Ferguson II, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington
James O. Brumfield, Marshall University, Huntington USA
Joseph Langdon, NASA, Ames Research Center
Abstract
The Monongahela National Forest spans 10 counties in eastern
central West Virginia. It has been an area of high mining
and timbering activities throughout much of the early to
mid twentieth century. As a result, the United States Forest
Service (USFS) has focused reclamation and remediation efforts
on the abandoned mine land areas. Much of the area has been
subjected to mining after effects such as acid mine drainage,
structural remains, gob/spoil piles, garbage piles, mine
portals, and highwalls. In 1998 the USFS contracted with
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to provide a detailed
georeferenced inventory with a Global Positioning System
(GPS) for the mining remains previously mentioned. In addition,
the inventory included quantitative descriptions and water
quality data. A geobiophysical model containing the abandoned
mine land features will provide the information necessary
for appropriate steps toward reclamation of the area. The
primary objective of this research creates a GIS database
infrastructure for the Monongahela National Forest inventory
integrating Landsat 7 +ETM 30 m and 15 m imagery, and USGS
Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQ’s), as
a more modern image base map. This data base can then be
used to simulate the resolution and visual effects that
can be seen through high resolution space borne imagery
such as IKONOS (Space Imaging, 2002) and Quickbird (Digital
Globe, 2002). This, in comparison to the USGS Digital Raster
Graphics (DRG) topographic maps, allows for more current
geobiophysical modeling in a remote sensing system and provides
an easily updated data management tool.
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