Trends in U.S. Recoverable Coal Supply Estimates and Future Production Outlooks

The geological coal resource of the U.S. is abundant and proved coal reserves are listed as the world’s largest. However, the reserves are unevenly distributed and located in a small number of states, giving them major influence over future production. A long history of coal mining provides detailed time series of production and reserve estimates, which can be used to identify historical trends. In reviewing the historical evolution of coal reserves, one can state that the trend here does not point toward any major increases in available recoverable reserves; rather the opposite is true due to restrictions and increased focus on environmental impacts from coal extraction. Future coal production will not be entirely determined by what is geologically available, but rather by the fraction of that amount that is practically recoverable. Consequently, the historical trend toward reduced recoverable amounts is likely to continue into the future, with even stricter regulations imposed by increased environmental concern. Long-term outlooks can be created in many ways, but ultimately the production must be limited by recoverable volumes since coal is a finite resource. The geologic amounts of coal are of much less importance to future production than the practically recoverable volumes. The geological coal supply might be vast, but the important question is how large the share that can be extracted under present restrictions are and how those restrictions will develop in the future. Production limitations might therefore appear much sooner than previously expected.     

Exchange and pathways of deep and shallow groundwater in different climate and permafrost conditions using the Forsmark site, Sweden, as an example catchment

This study simulates and quantifies the exchange and the pathways of deep and shallow groundwater flow and solute transport under different climate and permafrost conditions, considering the example field case of the coastal Forsmark catchment in Sweden. A number of simulation scenarios for different climate and permafrost condition combinations have been performed with the three-dimensional groundwater flow and transport model MIKE SHE. Results show generally decreasing vertical groundwater flow with depth, and smaller vertical flow under permafrost conditions than under unfrozen conditions. Also the overall pattern of both the vertical and the horizontal groundwater flow, and the water exchange between the deep and shallow groundwater systems, change dramatically in the presence of permafrost relative to unfrozen conditions. However, although the vertical groundwater flow decreases significantly in the presence of permafrost, there is still an exchange of water between the unfrozen groundwater system below the permafrost and the shallow groundwater in the active layer, via taliks. ‘Through taliks’ tend to prevail in areas that constitute groundwater discharge zones under unfrozen conditions, which then mostly shift to net recharge zones (through taliks with net downward flow) under permafrost conditions.     

Cultural heritage management and local development in a South Sámi and Norse mountainous borderland

The article discusses how municipal planning and management can enable South Sámi and Norse cultural history to contribute to local development in two sparsely populated mountain municipalities in south-east Norway. The authors’ methods comprised document studies of relevant planning documents and treatment of single cases, and interviews with actors at different levels, who were responsible for cultural heritage, land use planning, industrial development and reindeer husbandry. The findings revealed that the organization of cultural heritage management was extremely fragmented in terms of responsibilities, activities and localization. Responsibility for managing Norse and Sámi cultural heritage is divided between counties and the Sámi Parliament, and the municipalities have no legal responsibilities. This fragmentation contributes to the neglect and marginalization of cultural heritage management in general, and especially the management of Sámi cultural heritage. The discourse of attractiveness based on competing for in-migration from other municipalities holds a hegemonic position in both municipal master planning and regional planning. The authors conclude that a different approach based on local community development, namely the residential place, should be prioritized, whereby cultural heritage is used to strengthen the inhabitants’ knowledge, identity and ‘sense of place’.     

Long‐term investigations of the snow cover in a subalpine semi‐forested catchment

To improve spring runoff forecasts from subalpine catchments, detailed spatial simulations of the snow cover in this landscape is obligatory. For more than 30 years, the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL has been conducting extensive snow cover observations in the subalpine watershed Alptal (central Switzerland). This paper summarizes the conclusions from past snow studies in the Alptal valley and presents an analysis of 14 snow courses located at different exposures and altitudes, partly in open areas and partly in forest. The long‐term performance of a physically based numerical snow–vegetation–atmosphere model (COUP) was tested with these snow‐course measurements. One single parameter set with meteorological input variables corrected to the prevailing local conditions resulted in a convincing snow water equivalent (SWE) simulation at most sites and for various winters with a wide range of snow conditions. The snow interception approach used in this study was able to explain the forest effect on the SWE as observed on paired snow courses. Finally, we demonstrated for a meadow and a forest site that a successful simulation of the snowpack yields appropriate melt rates. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metal speciation in rivers affected by enhanced soil erosion and acidity

Dissolved (<1 kDa), colloidal (1 kDa–0.45 μm) and particulate (>0.45 μm) size fractions of 30 elements were determined for four rivers (Sirppujoki, Laajoki, Mynäjoki and Paimionjoki), including 12 low-order inflow streams, largely affected by soil erosion and acidity in SW Finland. In addition, geochemical modelling was used to predict the formation of free ions and complexes in these rivers. Total metal concentrations were relatively high but most of the elements occurred mainly in a colloidal or particulate form and even elements expected to be very soluble occurred to a large extent in colloidal form. According to geochemical modelling these patterns could be explained by in-stream metal complexation/adsorption only to a limited extent. Instead there were strong indications that the high metal concentrations and dominant solid fractions were largely caused by erosion of metal bearing phyllosilicates. A strong influence of acid sulphate (AS) soils, known to exist in the catchment, could be clearly distinguished in Sirppujoki river as it had very high concentrations of dissolved metals, while in the two nearby rivers (Laajoki and Mynäjoki) the influence of AS soils was largely masked by eroded phyllosilicates. In Paimionjoki river the colloidal and particulate fractions dominated very strongly, indicating that total metal concentrations are almost solely controlled by erosion of phyllosilicates. Consequently, rivers draining clay plains sensitive to erosion, like those in SW Finland, have generally high “background” metal concentrations due to erosion of relatively non-toxic colloidal/particulate phyllosilicates. Thus, relying on only semi-dissolved (<0.45 μm) concentrations obtained in routine monitoring and/or speciation modelling can lead to a great overestimation of the water toxicity in this environment.