West Virginia University professors John Renton and Ronald Smart have received one of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences’Awards for Research Team Scholarship (ARTS).
Dr. Renton, a professor in the Department of Geology and Geography, and Dr. Smart, an associate professor of chemistry, will examineThe Evaluation of the Environmental Hazard of Selenium in Coal-Associated Rocks of the Southern West Virginia Coal Basin.C. Blaine Cecil of the U.S. Geological Survey and Nick Fedorko of the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey also will participate.
The Renton-Smart research proposal builds upon the experiments conducted with the water quality of streams in the areas of mountain top removal/valley fill (MTR/VF) coal mining operations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently surveyed the water quality of streams in the primary region of MTR /VF coal mining in the Appalachian coal fields of southern West Virginia by characterizing and comparing the conditions in three categories of streams: streams that are not mined, streams in mined areas with valley fills, and streams in mined areas without valley fills.
The study found that when the overburden and interburden material associated with the coal is placed in adjacent valleys containing streams, the water quality for total selenium violates the U.S. EPA -recommended stream water quality criteria.
Renton and Smart, along with their research team, intend to use findings from a preliminary study to establish the stratigraphic interval of highest selenium concentration. Once the interval is found, it will be subjected to further testing. Further testing is needed in order to verify selenium contents. The research team will then lithologically re-sample the same core interval and subject it to the same suite of analysis.
Associate Dean Fred King, who oversees the program for the Eberly College, summarized the importance of the research by saying that”identification of locations where selenium levels are high will enable modifications of mining practices to avoid further environmental contamination.”
The ARTS program was established five years ago as part of an ongoing initiative to promote the pursuit of interdisciplinary and team-based research in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. In order to be considered for this program, teams must involve at least two faculty members, one of whom must be at the rank of assistant or associate professor in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. Preference is given to teams involving more than one unit from the Eberly College.