ML19211C793

Forwards Gw Geisen Re Proximity of Facility to Blasting Activities in Proposed Limestone Operations. Requests Comments

ML19211C793
Person / Time
Site:	Zimmer
Issue date:	10/16/1979
From:	Gradison B HOUSE OF REP.
To:	Stolz J Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML19211C791	List: ML19211C790 ML19211C793
References
NUDOCS 8001140504
Download: ML19211C793 (13)

Text

.

M<>cs University of Cincinnati Medical Center w.

, m.,,

a qu SEP 17 [o"i3 n

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. e. a.. a Ct'.Ct% Af s. C

• O 4U67 September 13, 1979 Honorable Willis D.

Gradison, M. C.

Federal Office Building Cincinna.i, Ohio 45202

Dear Bill:

Much controversy has developed over the nuclear power plant on the Ohio River at Moscow, Ohio.

The concerns evidenced have been mostly directed toward possible unexpected nuclear accidents or fall-out.

It appears to me that an area of perhaps even more concern may be the possibility of damage to such a facility from continued explosions from blacting for limestone on the Kentucky side of the river directly across f rom the Zimmer Power Plant, which would create a situation that could lead to disaster.

I include a reprint on natural features of Indiana describing limest_one bedrock and Pleistocene glaciations in Southern Indiana and their relationship to similar and companion formations along the Ohio River and into Kentucky.

Resource Development Corporation, which proposes to operate limes tone mines in the Mentor-California, Kentucky area has found it necessary, apparently, recently to acsure residents whose homes are en the hillsides adjacent to the proposed limestone mining site that they need not be concerned that their homes may slip because of vibrations from the blasting incident to the mining operations.

If a single home is lost, or even a few, that, indeed, would be tragic for the occupants or owners of those homes.

It seems to me, howeve r, that our greater concern should be the ef fect of repeated and continuous vibrations the blasting would have on a nuclear power plant.

I suggest it may be very much in the interest of the public in your district and indeed in the entire area to investigate the potential for a serious incident if the limestone mine proposed for Kentucky and the nuclear power plant are both permitted to function.

I an inclined to believe that the decision of the Government and/or the people in the area must be whether our greatest need is for a nuclear power plant which may benefit many, or a limestone T.ine which will benefit few.

1741 198 r4 o o r i ao ;5 cap /

Page two My personal opinion is that nuclear power is necessary in the forseeable future, but utmost consideration for safe operation must be our pri..ary consideration.

i Sin 7cly, b

co rgqc.u-Geisen

% ator The Paul I. Hoxworth Blood Center Of The University of Cincinnati GWG/pl Enclosures 1741 199 pfD

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B:6. KENTUCK't WE ONONNATI CNQU'RCR/$vday, August 26.1979

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MWhv7 asn,'t I, Told ?. 'w,,.t 7

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e Fumes Richard; )ickmanFggggig t

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~ M-W-9 Richard Dickman 1sn't upset over, the cancellation of the contract, a

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i" h i s c o m p a n y b*e l n g ri u m p e d as budgetary mose by the Convention G

general manager f or the Main and V151 tors Dureau, was coming.

J.

Str.use dercl::pment.,

"I knew there was a termination j

clause trT the contract," Dickman

' :: Diakman' S upset.tecause even

. thou,;h the esecutive committee of, said. "When the contract was rene-the Northern Kentucky Cenvention p 'got!ated in AprilI put itin myself."..

J and Visitors Bure.tu soted Tuasday Dickman said he would check t

o /. -.,.

night to enneel the management the contract Monday to see if the Q,N. D M ~f, S,.g

.M D*,"9'f f%.9 contract with his company, Devel-cancellation ts legal, but he added 3

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.. ;[., Of",V"* lk('T' opment Management Associates, he thinks it is.

.'",.y :%,.*'.;[i..*%' " '

eM

.they have yet to contact him.

"I think all that was requ! red !s 4

f, 4

3

• written notice," he said..

' \\ g....4, *l*NEVER expacted to !!nd out The contract's cancellation wit!

y.T.m i

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?.1 rough the neopapa* " he said, not end DM A's association with the s

convention and visitors bureau.

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b}p Df.1 Aireceived 52000 a month i

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m the Convention and Visitors Main Strasse mannagement is only i

c e

'., k reau to mancge construction on one of four or five contracts DM A

(,e prefect. which will have it's 6 has with the bureau. Dickman said, I

• -*ind opening September 8 and 9.

adding his company, among other

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$1ce work on the project is wind.

things, is presently destgning two. M%

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do n, Dickman said, he knew parking lots for the bureau. '

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namme.Co.' Mines 0neration u

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..5 i Will21 2Xears In Future.

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, y' G A k Y M ARSH All.. ',. ),'

regulations that we are required to

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,%.re, w poce, meet today." Flcke said. In building e

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' a new facility under present laws, ei

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will t'e over 24 years before the "we are not permitted to do a lot of j'g,,. ^4'{Q.].q

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, Introversial !!mestone minin3 thinc.s that were done with the r?

p

, pr'ition *In Cam;t*:1 Cou nty is Black River mine."

iy operat!cnal, acecrding to ut

?icke said the Kentucky,Env1 k- - - p ra--p -.w.pr-.w--.

.-se a t-----.9

".rike, general msnawer for Hill'op, ronmental Protection Agency'xould sL r-dr*- m :m p M j { ~. '

mi.

A

' gla Resource Daselcpment Corpot hase to approve plans for the mine's g

p tr.n, the comptny develcping the operations, in terms of dust emis '.

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' -T(p'""* p' 4

S sions. before granting littltop a per-7

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Tha $15*7 mill!on f artitty will be mit to build.

3 G.sted tetween Ky. 8 and the Ohio I.

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?>*.ber near Menter.

lill.LTOP OWNS 1200 acres in ) -* ',,,l4 i r Hilltop recetsed permteton to the area but plans to locate the j,+

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se f

c. rt construction on the site Au.

plant between the railroad an1 the st,

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river. Flcke said K y. 8 provides a ',,,

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h>.st 7 af ter five years of legal squab,

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d[.*' ".'s.

ng oser the pro;ect. The mine has natural buffer between the plant

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• lden oppo:.ed by Campbell County

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5 and local landowners.

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.CMleta's and local property owners.

One ranson !!!!! top chose the g,

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d M ANY LOCAL prcperty owners ava!! ability of truck, rail and barge g

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site, Flcke said, was because of

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1 F1 er tint C.

re 1o to ing fac!!1ty for barges will I

• dated on Ky. 8. across t he rner. be constructed on the site, Flcke

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hm Moscow, Ohto. That mine has said. as the largest portion of the i

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• r"*[Mr.,%*[..'.Me.Ng t'cen the source of complatnts - mined lim e ( o r lim e products ; s.6 g,,1 I ~, **vak.

f

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.vm Moscow residents because of ' manufactured on the site) will be 4 E 'M8,,'* ' 1

=w* and dPt from the mine.

transpcrted by barge. A Chessle sys-

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' ~~ B2t Ficke :s quick to point out tem tall line will cut thrcugh the f

.h'n,' i14 gettinc the sna!t.Compati.

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r.:t wr.t!e CampNHL County is get-

t mme, the local land owners Flcke said landowners living on the hills!de above the mine have j

t

.%s fith the Hl. ten Riser facility-nothing to fear as the !!mestcne is I

}

Ecc: ally in terms of dust emis.

removed. The mining. which will in. k

! #fDns.are inaccurate. he snid.

clude blasting, will cause no slip-page cn the hillside,he said.

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oeist. an it;dividual.-pecifically t raineil for re search on caverns

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1:cprinted from c=a The Indiana Sesquicentennial Volume NATURAL FEATIJI!ES OF INDIANA

~

indiana Acadany of Science. State Library y

indsanapohs, Indiana 1966

C.W u 117 7

Tne caves are mo31iy sman ana oniy a rew h v been mapped.

The rave streams are tributary to surface streams, primarily Caves the uuscatatuck, east Fo,k w hiic,ana ohio nive,s,which a,e westward-!!owing m.eandering streams entrenched into the

.5pelcology <md A,arst Hydrology carbonate strata, which dip to the west (Fig. 31). No sink-ing streams are known, but water enters the caves through lucluno L. l'ows:1.t.

sinkholes and groundwater from the glacial drift rather than Indiana Geological Survey

• frorn direct surface runoff.

Int rod uction Tales of endless caverns and of rivers swallowed ley the h

earth were part of the earliest fo!klore of southern Indiana.

k Features now well known..such as Wyandotte Cave, were re-ported in somewhat exagrerated accounts by early visitors.

[/

Wyandotte Cave was a source of nitrate for gunpowder dur-

%j.

'f ing the War of 1812, and nearby llarrison Spring, the largest i

in Indiana, was the site of :t water mill owned by William l

J,5,"? " " D .

llenry Harrison, the first territorial governor of Indiana. As

' $"' " ((

V j'e/

1. 5 "" 5 of the present date, about 700 caves have been discovered in

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. 7 '/

\\[h southern Indiana, and several sinking streams have been h

traced to their outlets from subterranean passages. The (r.

caves and associated karst features of Indiana have become known throughout the world. The longest mapped cave in e

.j Indiana, Blue Springs Cave in Lawrence County, is the fifth L ){

/

longest cavern in the United States and the eighth lonrest in i n.n o.oa the world.

ih(:

g Arco of Low idor g,p,, g r

Cave and Karst Areas Caverns, subterranean drainage, and associated karst fea-tures, such as sinking streams, sinkholes, and cave springs, i

non,oy are comraon in two areas of south. central Indiana: a glaciated b

Fig. 29 Map of Indiana showing the areas of limestone t.edrock and area where limestones of Silurian and Devonian age crop out C

exant of 1%istocene glaciauons.

and a partly glaciated area where limestones of Mississippian C

age are the surface rocks (Fig. 29). Limestone, which can The major cavern and karst region of Indiana, the area N be dissolved by running water to form caves, underlies much which has gained the attentica of most speleological research, is in the south-central nonglaciated part of the State (Fig.

4*

of the bedrock surface of Indiana, but five-sixths of the State.

o including most of the limestone area, is veneered with glacial cc: 3 30.)* The karst features and most of Indiana's caverns, in-drift which fills or obscures perhaps thousands of caverns h3 cluding the longest and largest ones, have been dissolved in formed before the advance of ice sheets. Evidence of these limestones of the Sanders and Blue River Groups of middle ag caverns is frequently found in drill holes and quarries.

ds M ssissippian age. These rocks crop out in a belt extending-There are some sinkholes, a few natural bridges, and about northward from the Ohio River in liarrison rounty to north-30 known caves in the eastern karst in Indiana (Fig. 30).

ern Putnam County and southward into the cave revion of r ieu.ao,

,.,,s.a...o,. a o., su,e coa..gi.e. i, nm n,..n.nu a N a'"'*8 Kentucky. The northern third of the belt of limestone is kenouras. G,utegiu Susvey.

1;

-M a N ATt:n.u. Fix1 t'ni.s <>r iNb! AN A dip to the southwest at abota w ic<t per mi!c, but local s ar i:.-

118 partly covered with g!acial drift which has blied some caves ti..ns of the sate of dip ar( c;n. mon ( Fir. 31).

and sinkhedes. Some caves, but very few :.inkho!es. are situated Origin of the Slitchell l' lain in the, thin !iinestones of the West I*aden and Stephensport The area of outcrop of the Sanders and !!!ue Itiver Groups Groups of late 31ississippian age. The rocks of all these groups is a westward-stoping sinthobpitted wrface called the 3! itch-l ell Plain? The 51itchell Plain is :.ctually a low !imestone p a-teau crossed b deveral m:.ior deeply uitruichul streams:

3

(

l1 the Ohio. Illue, East Fori. White, and White 1:ivers. The

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f

'[3 surface of the alitchell Plain on the ir.tvr:1uves is an ero e

j nnd depositional surface he.veled h(fore the late Tertiary and

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d i

caily Pleiztocene entrenchmut of ti.e surf.ae streams an I,

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' Q-development of sinkhofes at:d other karst features. The upper 7

surface of the plateau is rerionally inclined to the west anil j

I x-toward the major e. reams. The ruieral westuard

[ -[- I

] [',g i

j locally slope of the Alitchell Plain is not as steep as the dip of lime-

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3,.

,,,3 -

b-[#~~-~{ ! '[i _

stone bedrock, but the structure of the bedrock has greatly

'p

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k influenced the developmen; of the surface and the confiyura-

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.T Nfh across and beneath it (Fig. 311.'

l' i,- k

, [: A'g fJ tion of the drainage routes

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Cavern development has been primarily down the dip of the

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8 strata along joints in the limestone. Tne streams that shaped

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ff.

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the surface of the hiitthell Plain during Tertiary time headed c

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a few miles east of the plain where the slope extends onto F'3 J M,.

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-f a belt of shales and siltstones of the Borden Group. These MNV1(s /

t--

streams, with a few exceptions, had much the same drainage W/[N.k ~%

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f'f basins as at present. The sinkholes on the 31itchell Plain were l

formed after the streams cut below the level of the adjacent

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O limestone plateau. Blue Springs Cave in Lawrence County is a

' ' p*= 't;hp' good example (Fig. 02) of cavern development beneath the

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51itchell Plain.

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Ilevelopment of Karst Features u

J-D Although sinkholes and swallow holes are the primary open-(m)

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g.;"~ ! [h ings through which surface water enters subterranean chan-nels, the bedrock surface is nearly everywhere crisscrossed e

.o w.-

h[g{., M - {*$j t with smaller openings developed by solutional w'Jening of b'J ed

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joints.' These vertical channels, or grikes, are usually filled

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with soil, but they form a subsoil drainage network that is F

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tributary to an underground solution channel or cave. Some V

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of the grikes extend into caves where they are seen as loosely h

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cemented cobbles and gravel in a clay matrix in the ceiling g

o of the passage. The irregular upward projections of the lime-a

(,,f,J Fig. 30. Map of south-central Indiana ihowing ti.e locatiors of lime.

stone bedrock are J..... acles or lapies.

routui. Modified from atone cavena with regiect to rnajor drainage Powell,1961.

CAYL, 120 N AT Ulut.14:A rt' tis or i t;DI AN A A*

CE Af40GHti rAUSC t.1 Aluce(

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f.S ' C u t L L r,ch t? A u LCGTT0 burg h E GiCN AL nm CM *.6OND UPL Af*D LGWL At;O T

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20 PMes 1.v t h.n :Is,m n g n Lti.. lop of Fig. 31. C.w s plia.t re ohmic c r ou the major streams where it ranges from about 70 feet to as physn.gs ap).ic taab to hdios k o ch,gy. f.ine of ntoon irAandon much as 200 feet. Some sinkholes adjacent to the strearns Itruit 30.

Sinkhotes form in places where the descending surface water are of comparable depth. Away from the major streams the most rapid!y dissolves the bedrock. Some reep sinkholes in sinkholes are much shallower and local relief is f>0 feet per square mile or less in areas underlain by thick soil. The num-bedrock appear to be shallow because they contain !arge aa turnulations of soil; others contain ponds because their out-her of deep sinkholes commonly is greater above large cav-formed where the erns (Fig. 32).

lets are plugged. Collapse sintholes nre roofs of underlying caverns collapse to the surface. A large Development of Cave Passages collapse sinkhole of this type is called a gulf or a uvala. Wesley Acidic water that enters the bedrock through open joints, Chapel Gulf near Lost Itiver in Orange County covers 8 acres.,

especially floodwater that fdis the underground openings, drops Earst wmdows, such as those at Twin and Bronson Caves in Spring Alill State Park, are collapse sinkholes opening into a rapidly to the water table and then !!ows laterally toward a surface outlet. The greater the velocity of the flowing water, Q

cave passage from above or to the side to expose the upstream the greater the amount of limestone that will be dissolved g and downstream segments of the cave passage. Solution of the limestone leaves insolub!e particles of clay from the walls of the passage. The passage is enlarged most w hich accumulates in grikes and sinkholes or is washed into rapidly during flood periods when the acidic water comes in cave passages. This insolub!e residue is generally termed terra contact with the walls and ceiling of the solution channel or D rossa, although such material is yellow or brown as well as embryonic cave. The rate of enlargement decreases as the N red. Large tracts of upland on the blitchell Plain, generally volume of floodwater becomes insullicient to fill the cavern.

9 remote from areas of entrenched surface drainage and cavern Climatic changes during the Tertiary and Pleistocene Periods development, lack sinkholes and are covered with thick clayey h vc greatly influenced formation of caves in Indiana. Cold

@ soils. They are at least in part alluvial sediments derived from winter precipitation contains more carbon dioxide than warm pre-Pleistocene surface streams which flowed across the up, summer precipitation and is therefore a more active solvent.

That solution of the limestone is more efTective than m land surface of the 31itchell Plain. The soils include thin beds

~

ical erosion is indicated by the fact that caves are the result f of chert gravel and cobbles and are overlain by loess of Pleis.

N tocene age. The chert was derived from beds near the base of a stream piracy-that is, in limestone terraces many sur-A of the Sanders Group which cropped out to the east or from face streams cannot downcut their channels as rapidly as subterranean channels can be formed beneath them by solu-lenses near the middle of the Blue Itiver Group. Some of these r\\J tion. Such easily eroded layers as thin shale beds project into materials wash into the caves to form sedimentary deposits CD cave passages as resistant ledges. Analysis of water from in the passages.

A The relative local relief of the 31itchell Plain is greatest near

U Cavb NaT i;nal. Enr1 t;nt.s or i Nb! AN A holes. each of which receives the surp!as floodwa'ers from

'm>

iaves shows a high ca:Lonate mineral o,ntent, an italication those upstream.; Thus, ratner than dou ncutting their chan-51itchell Plain dis-of the extuit of sohition involved, nels the former surface strisms of theroutes as trib solved subterranenn drainage lower surface streams. The cavern passages developed head-s, r

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tributaries. Some of the

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n, ward I.eneath the former scriare icate eavern paware3 are developtai at dif ferent levels and m. d.

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1 P-c "yL s/n !.'.. s.

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'l that the downcutting of the surface streams was in pronres-4

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.g sive stages.

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Caserns Formed by Suhterranean Stream Piracy 8

_..,1 line west of the 3!itchell P ain is the rugged Crawford Up-3

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c s,N, '

. d.O' land, a dissected < uesta v.ith an eastward-facing escarpment

_. i._ -

brohen in many plates by throrh.!!cumg streams.5 The hills h,..~ -.. ' ".

of the up!and are underlair. by beds of sandatt,ne, shale, and and Stephensport (.n.. ps, t,ut C

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limestone of the West Ihatt a

the streams alope the easterr. side have cut into the limestones f

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of the Blue Riwr Group (Fig. 31). Caserns are common alour

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these valleys, especially v here they receive underground

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drainage from the Mitchell Plain to the cast. Generally the

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-f, larger streams of the eastern margin of the Crawford Upland h

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. Jr' e}

q, :p 3

ue about 100 feet lower th:.r. adjacent areas on the Mitchell 2

Plain. Precipitation on the uutern part of the Mitchell Plain

.;- i.', 7 '.,' a t.

t m

. is diverted westward through caverns trending A

' ^ -

commonly Fm. r Topieraphic map shuyng u tatiomhip of Nue Springs Cave down the dip of the strata imo the surface streams at lower t he pamagn aie aevetepia atern: jumts elevations. Many of the caverns have several levels which tu snkhorn ural tocal ar n.are.

m m 1.m.ntone, and the i n.Lhuem aie iuu..ta m the n.1 uuis

, m o.c

'-p) t in.nua.c. waf wa f rt m r.amt r. n.c:,

correlate with stages of downcutting in the valleys of the b

Crawford Upland. In places the cavern levels are superim-Development of Subterranean Drainage posed and the cave passage is a high narrow subterranean Q

Karst features formed on the up!and surface of the Mitchell canyon. This process of subterranean stream piracy has en-P!ain as the major streams and their tributaries downcut their tirely diverted the headwaters of some ancient streams on channels in several successive stages during late Tertiary and the surface of the Mitchell Plain.: Sinkholes formed in g eHy Pleistocene time. Some surface tributaries lost their ancient valleys while caverns were dissolved beneath them.

streams to interconnected joints which opened into the main Similar streamless valleys in the Crawford Upland are situ-streams at Nwer elevations. The open ponts bccame en-j ated at about the same level as the Mitchell Plain and a larged by solution as water continued to flow into them, and

}

pitted with sinkholes. These karst valleys are a part of the N

c pbecame swal!ow holes or sinks in the old stream bed. Eventu-N former Tertiary drainage pattern."

ally these sinks took all but flood flows of the stream. These Mswallow holes are usually choked with debris and sediments Caverns Formed by Groundwater The thin dense limestones of the West Baden and Stephens-Rrom floods and generally lie several feet below the level of g

port Groups are commonly overlain by a permeable sandstone the former surface channel or dry bed which carries surplus a

and underlain by impermeable shale. The rocks of the Craw-floodwaters downstream. Lost River, a sinking stream in

(,yi Orange County, has along its dry hed five major swallow

N A ruus. Fi:ATekt:s or !Not.m A CAVES 125 t 'pland are greatly dissected and moat of the outcrops limestone beds. The insolub!c strata may be overlain by per-various strata are on hillsides

3. ell above the streams meable reservoir rock or exposed at the surface. The water deep valleys. Caves in the limestones have been dis-above the cap rock tlaws into a joint which permits its descent i ahm.st entirely a!ong sets of joints. In general the caves to the top of the soluble limestone. The water then either p.aallel the outcrop of the limestone. Only in a few directly penetrates open joints or flows laterally to enc open are sinkholes and other karst features fomni on the sur-joints which perma its rapid descent to a lower level. A per-meable rock above acts as an infiltration bed and absorbs

. Love the caves.

water which wouhl be lost as surface runott, only to release

. ipitation and runott from the hillside above the sami-is absorbed and becomes a perched water body above it into joints or domes as rapidly as rock permeability and mestone.': The releane of the atored water is toward the available openings allow. The presence of small waterfalls in

..o or into open joints in the underlying limestone. The some ilomes indicates that they may be fed by groundwater

..nd vohnne of water release are controlled by the per-from overlying rocks and are not dependent entirely on direct hty of the sandstone and the size and location of open precipitation and runolf. Collapse or solution of the roof of a in the limestone. The joints are enlarged by sohition dome may extend to the surface to form a pit or shaf t, which oportion to the amount of water which flows through may permit entry into cave passages, depending upon the Thus, those joints that receive the greatest volume of amount of collapsed material or breakdown at the bottom of c enlarge most rapidly and, conse<tuently, release more the pit.

from the sandstone.

Cavern Collapse

_ water willo.n the jomts.in the h.mestone is also a ed water body above the underlying impermeable shale.

The process of cavern development by solution creates a

.arge of water in the joints or caverns is generally down

,g poten'ial for collapse of the strata overlying the cavity. The

p of the rock to the outcrop. The cave passages are com.

occurrence and magnitude of roof and wall failure are mainly determined by width of the cave passage, closeness of joint-

. developed just above the level of the shale and extend b

ing, and thickness and competence of the roof and wall strata, overlying sandstone through high narrow fissures or n that mark the points at which most groundwater enters The collapsed material or breakdown is primarily of two types, uc ave. Speleothems are rare in these caves, apparently be-blocks and slabs. Block breakdown is common in thick beds, the moundwater entering the passages has not passed Q

whereas slab breakdown is formed by co!! apse of thin-bedded agh overlying limestone beds where it could obtain cal-g rock. Block breakdown is generally limited to the walls and carbonate "to carry in solution. Breakdown in the caves c= 2 lowest ceiling bed, whereas slab breakdoivn tends to affect monly contains sandstone cobbles and boulders. Blocks

@A numerous beds above the passage. Thin-bedded strata tend to mestone that fall into the cave stream from the ceiling sag above the cave passage and shear off near the walls to dissolved by the flowing water.

d form slab breakdown. Each succeeding higher bed is better t gi supported, so that the unsupported sagging layers over a cave 1)evelopment of Pits and 1)omes c

passage form a tension dome. Collapse of the sagging layers

'here the local relief and limestone thickness is sutlicient.

usually results in a domed roof containing a mountain of r that enters the limestone bedrock may drop nearly ver-breakdown, such as Rothrock's Cathedral and Monument

.!y into a cave passage be!ow. The water !!owing down the

• %.J Mountain in Wyandotte Cave. Obviously there are situations

. of the.open joints dissolves vertical channels or grooves

.Dm and conditions where the types are indistinguishable or mixed, h coalesce as they are widened and deepened. Vertical particularly in wide passages where the failure may include

~

and domes in caves appear to have been formed below numerous beds above the passage.

i.vely impermeable strata, such as shale or less soluble N

In some places roof failure extends to the bedrock surface CD Ch

i_,

i w.

L..

3 s; n a 1 i,. i s.L u ti m Th nitimate cause of deposition may have la.cn a change in e idl.q,.c nd. h..h. h:o t

.v u o lo v. os ruh Frmt temperature, a loss of hydrostatic pressure, the presence of nd t.o ms a vi hin i ave panares cri atly ai t um, ". luch does not ta'.e p!are t

trat e clerm nts or orgar.:c agents, or a combination of these, act e!ciaten t ol! apse i f the e.n o roof near the surf at e. !'reak-o, en for me d by na chanir:d weathi t mg is cosupou d o: m uela

.\\lthough most spelecthms in Indiana (aves are alternatelv baraleil calcite and aragonite or (alcite p'eudomorphs af ter s nu." rubb'e nul doi! conmuinly mised with L5,i k ara! slab ar.iponite, suggesting cyclic deposition. no method has been bri at. doe. n T ra : e di poMt s t emnu,nly fu m a st erp talu sh>pe dt.vided to interpret the dt position of speiusthems. The cause in t he c as e b:r :are v. ht t e t he latte r terimnatt s at a hi!! side, of alteration of aragonite to calcite also is unknown..\\lthough u.o xe

t. M..n dot t e t M e. or in a'

o< i..t o,n w h a-

'e u,mparisons with Tertiary and P!cistocene climatic emuli-

~

v. n h a sinh ho'v.

tions would be desirable, the n,mplicated mode of origin and

(.as e lh posits unknmin rate of growth have hindered any basis for such a study. Uut the deposition of speleuthems is a rreat aid in l h posits in un es f a!! int,, t u o di st ini t,n oups met hanical the interpretation of the sequtnre of tvents in determining canornt s and themit at toiner.d deposits. Th rh.adca? denmit s i

the depositior.al history of + < ave. which in turn may be cor-i avial, or hwus-n tase, ini ude breabb,u n and al!avia1 co i

related with other known events in rcomorphie history. Flow-i ti me adiments The h, droch Moor, of few lodiana (aves are stone layers and stalagmites are in places buried by later nmd partly r&d w ith ( ?ays, espei d, for nn,st of the caves are deposits or suspended from the ceiling or wall where the un-dis. s:nol. v raveb. mul t obb!cs deposited bv t he st ream-which consolidated fill has been eroded from beneath them, iLwed throurh them. Most of t hese materiak apptar to have been washed into the cave and Inuestone fragment-are not Indiana's I.argest Caves and Cave Streams dominant, nor u,mnwn, as a constituent. f.imentone that falls imo the cave H casily renmved by sohition. The stream de-When Indiana became a state 150 years ago, Wyandotte p -!t e ar. rene ally m irrerular bt ds. although silts ami clays Cave was considered the largest cave in the State (Fig. 33).

rr.:.y also be plastered onto the cave walls. Chanoal layers, Additional passages discovered in 1851 led to the claim that perhaps derived from ancient forest fires, and finds of animal the cave was the second largest cave in the United States.

hones and p! ant remains are rare. Evideme from a few caves Although the size of the cave has been exaggerated, it is mdicates that sescrat feet of :ediments have an umulated indeed a large cave.8 Some of the passages in Wyandotte are owiny to crosion aml slope wash that have resulted from poor D

the largest in Indiana, including the largest room, Rothrock's land-use practices dm ing the past 150 years. Most cave de-Cathedral, which contains Monument Mountain, the largest pmits, however, are of Tertiary or Pleistocene are. Many of known pile of breakdown in an Indiana cavern. A remarkabk.

the valleyn to which caves are tributary are partly tilled with (F"' 3) feature of Wyandotte Cave is the dryness-of its passages, for cetonits of Pleistocene age. Pleistocene lacustiine clavs, includ-g very little water or mud is found in them. Wyandotte Cave ing varved c!ay concretions, were deposited by placial !akes contains only one very small stream which flows for a very w hich bail.ed up into cave passages where contemporaneous (ga) short distance through a side passage. A few sceps account for the other wet places. The stream that dissolved the pas-seihment s w ere deposited. Colhavial deposits. consisting of soil and rubble, are common in sinkholes that enter cave pas-

[M sages of Wyandotte was probably diverted from Blue River dare3. 1:reak lou n may rest on, be buried by, or be mixed p

about 2 miles to the northeast.* Blue River, then flowing at L

a much higher level than now, was captured through joints with the sedinientary cave deposits or cavern fill materials.

Most chemical mineral deposits or speleothems in caves are in the limestone. After passing through an underground rv accumulations of calcium carbonate as aragonite or calcite route that was substantially shorter than the surface route.

C""3 formed owing to a loss of carbon dioxide from calcium bicar-the stream reentered the lower Blue River valley at a much lower altitude. This large stream, of late Tertiary and early N. bonate laden water that enters the air-filled cave passages.

Casi s 1: "

Nrit nal. Ft.xit ni.s or I :biar:a 128 i

that raay he entered indicate that the subterranean drainage P!cistocene are. was probah!y tonyer than that !!owing through route consists of a series of ntarly parallel passages in a I

1bc Imt ltiver Cave Sy: stem in Oranye Com.ty at the pres:nt reneral east to west direction over a distance of about 7 m I

Many of the panares of Wyandotte terminate at hi!!-

The surface channel or dry Ltd, which carries surplus !!ood-t ime.

sides or ' alleys that postdate cas ern devi topment.

l waters, is about et miles long between the uppermost swallow and the rise or artesian spring which discharges the g

hole ev..<-,.

-[

g The rise of Lost Itiver, about I

+

A

,u 1

1 mile south of Orangeville, is a cave outlet which has been

'I

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dammed by alluvial and lacustrine sediments of late Pleisto-

' ~

r

'I E'

/,- ( 1

/[ / /

cene are." This cav(rn network was probably open during the f

_- I,'-)( 9

'/'

' li late Tertiary when the major surface streams were down-

,f

>.,7 f,, i ) # '/.l cutting their channelt Sinkholes and swallow holes developed

/

l simultaneously on th( Mitchell Plain.

1.

e lilue Springs Cave, on the south s!.le of the East Fork of 1

I'

../ 'c White Itiver acar Hedford (Fig. '42), contains over 12.1 miles

?,

k of mappet' ussages on several levels.' The downstream exit Ji ) - ', l[ -

~

g%

g

'l of the cav > < : ream is a cave spring, but the dam across the

~ /

East Fork at Williams has backed water up into the passage

,,7 -

/

-,_g i.

LL for a long distance. This < ave stream is a small river which i'

I s /

'hj,

T T

requires a bcat to traverse the cave passage containing it.

g((

'tj[] N 7( )r v> $

1,r.jij'7 levels are dryer. The passages of this cave are fed entirely Side passages contain smaller streams and some at higher i

,bnMne,/

- Q1; j cop

, ;fj/r, ~-

f.f on the overlying Mitchell Plain. Several deep sinkholes lie by drainage from sinkholes and a few short sinking streams D'

.3

~ p q,7

' p(, p,.'

fi n ',f '

immediately adjacent to the cave passages, but no dry bed g'

j

/

,s

!, 3,/' j/' :

IY or surface channels are prominent. The cave stream is under i

~1" df " d 4 E

. (, h 7

(7 heavy hydrostatic pressure when the passages are completely i

,),

s. q [ [i

~

flooded, for water is known to fill some of the surface sinkholes (f'M g,j [ J.

(

('j to a level of about 100 feet above the adjacent river level. In Q, t v.*b,O, 'j[a, ; -

.i L,/

-^a 1

o spite of the dangers of exploring and surveying this cavern s

s

@J i m t t: ;,7Q - yb

(.-

with its subterranean river, plans to map an estimated 5 miles O

.1 i t.

NJ of additional passages have been made.

O ng. 33. Topocraphic nian showing ti.e inapput extent of Wyandotte C

Cave and its re! tionship to valleys m the Crawf on! Ilpiand. The pau-fg Future Studies o

ares are deuh, ped in the Ste. Genevitve 1.imestm.c tiduc ltiver Group).

Spelunkers and speleologists in Indiana will search for ILuc f rom 1.tavenworth Quadrangle,19 87.

p longer and larger caverns, not merely to establish new records a

Lost River is in direct contrast to Wyandotte Cave. Most of size, but also to better understand how caves are formed c

cn C "

of the passages are small and those that may be entered are

$ 3D and how they are related to local hydrology and geology. Caves wet and muddy.' The underground passages of Lost River will be studied in greater detail with respect to their geo-are several times the length of Wyandotte, but most of them

((

chemistry, meteorology, and biology to determine their effect are flooded all of the time and the remainder flood with every on water supply, pollution, and engineering problems. Spele-linht rain in the area. The parts of underground Lost River

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80V 2 g jp7/

o Docket Fiie (50-3ss)

J. Stoiz NRC PDR E. Hylton Local PDR J. Yore, ASLB EDO Reading IE (3)

NRR Reading W. Houston LWR 1 File V. Stello, f H. Denton J. Cook V E. Case H. Berkow D. Vassallo D. f1uller Attorney, ELD R. fiattson T!. l'onorable P,ill Gradison CA (3)

D. Eisenhut

'Jnit'r! States '!ouse of "epresentatives G. Ertter (07621)

W. Russell

'ashington, D. C.

20515 ft. Groff S. Varga E. Hughes

];,'.'

lea r Cengressnan .radison:

B. Moore T'iank you for your letter of October 16, 1979 addressed to Mr. John Stolz,

'@3 A

reaarr'ing the concern from your constituent, Dr. George W. Geisen. Your Ictter enclosed nr. Geisen's letter to you dated September 13, 1979, where

':e expressed concern over the possibility of damage to the Zirmer !!uclear Pouer Plant frou proposed lirestone mining operations along the Kentucky s' ore r' tN Chio iver close to the Zirmer Plant.

.~

u r i n ' cur ';afoty review of the Zimer Plant, the staff considered quarry n" < f",as et t% lack "iver 'Sining Company and the Pickney Breuer Company lece s t. r and two and one half miles, respectively, from the reactor site F-'atn Ev.>luatico ?eport related to operation of '< m. H. Zinner Nuclear

n a r ctation,1: nit 1 - M!P.EG-0523 - Section 2.2, Page 2-5).

Both of these exr. t'ons use explosives. The staff evaluated the use of explosives at

.==s dirtances greater than two riles from the Zir.nce site and concluded that

-l this till not affect plant safety. The proposed limestone mines in the

c-tcr-CMi#croia, Kentucky area are aSout three to five miles fron the

'i. e-site.

't W n it ifces not appear that the proposed operations will present a sa'oty prc"!u. at the.'is oer site, we plan to verify the effect of these

.,reratinrs an ti:e Zie r,cr plant.

• 'or. this infor,:dtion satisfies your and Dr. Geisen's concerns.

--- a

.N Sincerely, ph 1741 210

.m -

as" g

g9 3

d[LeeV.Gossick[ Executiv D

\\)

@b DSE*

LHR*

HHouston SVarga

• /

SEE PREVIOUS YELLOW FOR PREVIOUS CONCURRENCES

• 10/31/79 11/7/79 11/g79 "U-

^

omc a *

..I Pe red

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~ 5.to.

..ba!!aS$of

.. E Ca s e,..

..HDenton..

..L.VGossick..

w o st r >

.1.1/

.19..

.11/.7/7.9...

.11/.. ?./ 79.

..l.1/../.79..

.11/..../.2 9..

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